Forest Fire
by RedFlowerInk
Summary: He was proud and violent. She was calm and soft-spoken. He liked bloody horror movies. She liked pretty flowers. He wanted to climb to the top of the world. She wouldn't tell anyone what she wanted. And neither of them had the slightest care in the world for the other until one morning when their lives collided by chance.
1. Whatsername

_"Howitzer Impact!"_

Rocketing through the air towards the wooden mannequin in front of him, Katsuki Bakugo thrust his hand forward and released his Quirk.

The force of the explosion shook the whole arena, and the noise was deafening.

He landed on the ground smartly, his chest heaving. The destroyed mannequin fell to the ground in a pile of blackened fragments, rich with the smell of burning wood.

It was currently the day after the U.A. sports festival, and all students had the day off. Most of Class 1-A were using their free time to relax, but Bakugo had other plans. He had chosen to spend his morning at Training Ground Beta, not just to hone his Quirk, but also as an outlet for his rage.

The reason for this rage - the final match of yesterday's tournament, when Shoto Todoroki had refused to fight him using his fire powers. After that complete disappointment of a fight, Bakugo had been dying to let off some steam - and therefore came to the training ground to vent his anger in the best way he knew how.

By blowing up everything in his sight like a maniac.

It was working quite well.

"Tired..." he muttered to himself. "...got to take a break."

Having blown off most of his anger by now, he felt a little calmer. Still breathing hard, he headed out of the arena and started to walk around its perimeter to cool off.

With no lessons taking place and almost nobody in the school grounds, the usual people were, mercifully, not around to annoy him. No Shitty Hair, no Tape Face, no annoying Deku - he had a rare moment of silence all to himself, and he intended to make use of it.

However, his silence was disturbed when he passed by Training Ground Delta, and he heard some faint crashing sounds and dust being kicked up.

"The hell?"

He found it strange that someone else was using the training grounds when he was always the only one around at this hour. He went to take a look. The arenas were barred to all students who weren't in the hero course, and the seniors didn't use Ground Delta, so it had to be either one of the extras from his class or someone from 1-B.

Once he got close enough to take a look, he found that it was the latter.

A girl with long green vines for hair was standing in the middle of the arena, using her thorny hair like whips to perform a series of attacks on various targets.

She sent some of her vines slashing through the air, striking four or five mannequins and sending them flying into a wall. They then shot forward and stabbed through a thick wooden board. Finally, she used them to ensnare some blocks of wood, leapt up, and flung them forcefully into the mannequins.

_Damn, that's lethal._ Bakugo thought as he watched her.

He recognised this girl from the day before. She was one of the competitors during the final stage of the tournament, and...

What the hell was her name again? Shimari? Shimazaki? Whatever. All he knew was that she had beaten Denki Kaminari in about two seconds flat.

He still remembered how blindingly fast that match was. All it had taken was one quick restraining move, and Kaminari was left unable to fight.

And from what Bakugo was seeing, she had even more abilities than the binding move she had used on his classmate - she was probably trying not to hurt Kaminari too much back then.

Her Quirk was really powerful...with attacks like that, Bakugo found himself wondering how well he would fare against her.

With his explosions, there was no doubt he could destroy the vines with ease - but the sheer number of them would make defending himself consistently a challenge. The different nature of their Quirks also meant that Bakugo would have to move around more than her, and tire out quicker. On top of that, she had the advantage of range - all of this making it nearly impossible for him to find an opening to attack.

Blood rushed to his head as he realised that she might be able to defeat him. However, far from feeling threatened or enraged at this, this idea made him feel...eager.

In a fight between the two of them, would he find himself taken down within seconds like Kaminari, or would he be able to beat her, even if he had to go all out?

He was itching to find out.

Bakugo took a step forward, and flung open the arena doors with a loud bang.

"Hey you, with the vines!"

Startled, Ibara Shiozaki paused her training and looked up - and her face darkened upon seeing Bakugo.

"What do you want?" she asked sharply.

"You got time? Fight me."

She raised an eyebrow.

"Excuse me?"

"You heard what I said, fight me." Bakugo said as he descended the steps to the arena. "I want to see how good you are."

Shiozaki's cold gaze didn't soften. She didn't know Bakugo very well, but she disliked him greatly for how aggressive he was. His scarily violent tendencies, as displayed during his matches yesterday, plus the way he had resisted being chained to the podium, had cemented Bakugo as someone she wanted to avoid as much as possible. She was not at all pleased to see him here. What on earth did he want with her?

"Why me?" she asked coldly. "Don't you have friends to train with?"

"Damn, you ask a lot of questions. You're really strong, aren't you? I just want to see how good I do against you."

Shiozaki still felt on edge. Despite his (somewhat) nice remark, she was still wary of Bakugo, and the idea of fighting someone so violent made her skin crawl.

Still though, it seemed like a good idea to her. She had come to train because she wanted to get better at fighting, and the champion of yesterday's tournament had just offered to spar with her. She could hardly ask for a better opportunity.

"Alright, I accept." Shiozaki said, finally dropping her hostile tone. "Do you want to do this somewhere else, or-"

"No, here is fine." Bakugo replied, striding across the arena and kicking aside wooden blocks and mannequins.

When he reached the opposite end, he bent down and picked one of the wooden blocks. He held it up in his hand for her to see.

"First one to stop the other from-"

He paused, and glared at her.

"Hold on. What's your name again?"

"Ibara Shiozaki."

"Too long. I'm just going to call you 'Vines'."

Shiozaki gave an indignant twitch in response to his attitude. Bakugo didn't react.

Holding up the wooden block again, he said, "First one to stop the other from moving wins."

He tossed the block into the air. Both pairs of eyes were on it as it rose - then fell - then hit the ground.

In an instant, Bakugo crouched down and fired off two explosions, launching himself straight at Shiozaki.

"Die!"

He swung at her with a right hook. Shiozaki dashed aside, evading the blast - but as she did so, she shut her eyes and flung an arm over her face in alarm - which Bakugo instantly recognised as a beginner's mistake.

His eyes flared. If she couldn't fight, then her incompetence would be her downfall.

He lunged again and fired off a second blast. She leapt back to avoid him one more time, and stumbled slightly.

Furious that the opponent he had such high hopes for was acting like a complete novice, he yelled, "Come on, use your goddamn Quirk!"

Seemingly spurred on by his taunt, Shiozaki regained her balance and sent multiple vines flying towards Bakugo like striking snakes. He felt slightly more eager at this.

He countered with an explosion, and the vines were destroyed. Barely a second later, more shot towards him. He blocked again - they continued to regrow.

Bakugo gritted his teeth. This was just like his fight with Todoroki - he couldn't defend against a continued onslaught.

He continued firing off explosions, torching vines with every hit, but there were too many to keep up with. Eventually, two vines snaked around Bakugo's wrist and bound it tightly.

_Damn!_

He tried to use his other hand to free himself, but the moment he stopped fending off the other vines, three or four of them wrapped themselves around his body and pinned his arms to his sides.

He struggled, but the vines didn't relent. As he looked up, he saw a dozen more approaching, and knew that he would lose if he didn't act quickly.

Hoping his next move would get him out of this, he forced his left palm outwards, and released a bright blast of light in a weaker version of his Stun Grenade.

It worked. Shiozaki shut her eyes and staggered, and the vines holding Bakugo came loose. He wrenched his arms free and destroyed them with explosions.

Not wanting to give her another chance to win, he pounced, and the next instant, grabbed her by the neck and slammed her into the ground forcefully.

Pinning her down, he watched her struggle for a moment, then go still.

"I win." Bakugo breathed.

Shiozaki groaned in defeat. She knew he was right. The only reason she was still conscious was because they were just sparring. Had they been fighting for real, he'd have already knocked her out with an explosion.

Looking up, she caught a glimpse of Bakugo's vicious expression, and her intense dislike of him came flooding back.

She closed her eyes and braced herself for an insult or cruel remark...

"You're strong."

Her eyes flitted open.

"Excuse me?"

"Girl, is there something in your ears? Only because that's the second time you've asked me that today." said Bakugo, a hint of mirth in his voice. "Yeah, you heard me, you're strong as hell. Probably almost as good as Icy-Hot."

Shiozaki waited for further explanation on his mysterious comment, but Bakugo didn't say anything. He was looking at her up and down, like he was carefully debating what to do with her.

Eventually, he released his grip on her neck and stood up.

"Come with me. I want to talk to you." he said, before walking over to a corner of the arena.

Shiozaki stared after him, utterly perplexed. Was Bakugo being...

...actually civil?

She had totally expected him to berate her for losing so quickly. Instead, he told her she was...strong? Was he just trying to be nice, or...? No way, this was the same insufferable jerk who made a mockery of her entire class yesterday. Surely he was up to something.

"Oi, Vine Head! How long are you going to lie there?"

Grumbling, Shiozaki got to her feet and walked towards Bakugo. For whatever reason he was being courteous to her, she preferred it that way and would rather not set him off.

She stopped in front of him, and he stared at her calmly with his back against the arena wall. They were both glaring at each other before they realised it.

"What?" Shiozaki was the first to speak.

"Why is it that you can't fight well?"

Shiozaki nearly responded with 'excuse me', but she figured that Bakugo would probably get angry if she said that a third time, so she bit back her tongue and chose her words more carefully.

"I'm sorry, but what do you mean?"

"From the second I attacked you, you kept making stupid mistakes. Flinching, losing your balance, blocking your own view. A dead bird can tell you don't know how to fight. Kids who want to be heroes usually learn how to fight a little before even joining a hero school. So what's up with you?"

Shiozaki shifted uncomfortably. Bakugo's question was making her feel nauseous. Telling someone she barely even knew - or liked - about why she couldn't fight well was one thing. More importantly, the reason behind her shortcomings...was a subject she despised thinking about, and she was never keen on disclosing it to anyone.

Suddenly, she felt a surge of frustration and exasperation.

"And...and why should I tell you?" she said hotly. "You...I barely even know you! And whatever you're trying to pull, I don't want to be involved."

She rarely ever shouted like this, and she was aware that Bakugo hadn't actually done anything wrong so far, but she was just totally unprepared for his question, and she was already wanting to leave.

She actually turned around and took a few steps towards the door when Bakugo gave a reply that made her stop abruptly.

"Too bad. I can help you with what you lack, you know."

She turned to look at him, her gaze slightly softer. But she kept her lips firmly sealed.

"Come and train with me, once or twice every week, whenever you want." Bakugo said. "I can show you how to fight better, do some hand-to-hand combat, and help you find better ways to use your Quirk when you're not fighting a human charger that goes flat in five seconds."

"It's better than throwing mannequins around, anyway." he added, jerking his thumb towards the training dummies that lay scattered on the ground.

Shiozaki stared at him, completely taken aback by his offer.

"I-I'm sorry, why are you being so...nice?"

"Don't get the wrong idea, this is for my own good." Bakugo said sharply. "Going up against someone with a Quirk as good as yours over and over is a great way to get to the top. And yours is freaking strong. If you knew how to counter a punch, you'd be a real challenge for me."

"So in other words, you want to make me better at combat so that you can use me as your personal practice doll." Shiozaki said darkly.

"Yeah, that's about right." said Bakugo without a change in expression.

Shiozaki frowned. Now that she heard his motives, she felt like livestock being raised for slaughter. It was not a pleasant thought, learning and improving with Bakugo's help just because he wanted to knock her down.

Still, she couldn't deny that training with the school's top fighter was a highly appealing concept. It was a terrific way to hone her skills. Furthermore, who said Bakugo had to beat her all the time? If she learned whatever she could from him, she could see herself eventually defeating him and putting him in his place.

Maybe she had something to gain from this.

"Alright, I accept your offer." she said. "I don't know when I'll be able to meet you, though, since our internships are supposed to start soon."

"That's good enough for me." Bakugo said, shrugging. "I'm done here. See you at school tomorrow."

He turned and made his way towards the exit, but just as he placed his foot on the first stair, he looked back over his shoulder at Shiozaki.

"By the way, why did you come here today?" he questioned. "I've been here a dozen times and I've never seen anyone here so early."

Shiozaki looked at him.

"I wasn't satisfied with my results yesterday so I came to improve myself. And I hate to admit it, but I was feeling frustrated, so I had to let off some steam."

"Heh, I think we'll get along well."

And on that enigmatic note, Bakugo left without another word, and Shiozaki now stood by herself in silence.

She felt like this was the start of something she had never expected.

**X**

**All my thanks to Erin Tesden for being the beta reader for my fanfic!**

**Hello, and welcome to my first attempt at a multi-chaptered fanfiction for My Hero Academia. As someone who loves fluff and rarepairs, Bakugo × Shiozaki is my favourite ship for this series and when I discovered that the tags for this pairing are almost completely blank on both FFN and AO3, I felt compelled to try my hand at it.**

**My rarepair-loving heart aside, the other reason I wanted to write this fanfic was because I was inspired by massively popular stories like Awkward Energy by QuirkQuartz, which I really recommend checking out. Oh, and I should probably make it clear now that I intend to turn this fanfic into something like that - following HeroAca's canon story while exploring any changes that take place due to the presence of the main pairing.**

**As I continue to write and post chapters for this fanfic, I hope you will enjoy what I have in store! (I have fifteen more chapters written out already. I'm not kidding. It took me over a year.)**

**See you!**


	2. Second Round

"Vines. Come train with me this Saturday."

It was Thursday - the day the U.A. students returned from their break. Bakugo had tracked down Shiozaki in her class during lunch, and, after calling her outside by flinging a pen at her head through the window, gave her this request.

Shiozaki stared at him coldly, silently nursing the spot where he had hit her. Couldn't he have asked her to come out in a more _civilised_ manner? And not when half her classmates were watching? She didn't take her eyes off him, but she could tell that everyone inside the room had their attention on the two of them.

"Are you really that eager to beat me up?" she said irritably.

"You're funny." Bakugo said. "You're the one who said our internships would get in the way if we wanted to fight. But they don't start until next week, so I don't see why I can't fight you just once before then."

That, and also because he had originally wanted to train with Eijiro Kirishima, but he said he couldn't make it because of schoolwork.

She didn't have to know that, though.

Shiozaki considered him in silence for a moment or two - or five. She wasn't exactly in a rush to give him a satisfactory answer after he had just nearly taken her eye out with a pen.

On one hand, she felt a rather vindictive satisfaction at the thought of denying him what he wanted, but she just wasn't the type to do something like that. Not to mention she was the one who took up his offer in the first place, and she didn't want him to think she wasn't taking him seriously...

"Alright, fine. I'll see you on Saturday." she finally said.

"Good. Training Ground Beta, seven in the morning. Show up late and I'll kill you." he stated.

With that, he turned and left.

Relieved that he didn't press her for anything else, Shiozaki went back inside her classroom. Immediately, she was approached by Tetsutetsu Tetsutetsu and Itsuka Kendo.

"What did that guy want from you?" Tetsutetsu asked, cracking his knuckles. "Need me to go beat him up?"

"No, it's fine, please don't get violent." Shiozaki hurriedly said. "He just wanted to know if I was free this weekend."

Tetsutetsu had a look on his face not unlike Setsuna Tokage's when she usually heard such a sentence.

"Oh, um, that's an...interesting development." he said, fighting back a smirk.

"For training. He wanted to know if I was free for training." Shiozaki added hastily. "Please don't think such things, I would _never_-"

"Hey, I still think it's great that you're making friends with Class A!" Kendo said brightly. "Being on good terms with them has got to be better than going at each other's throats all the time like Monoma and Bakugo...speaking of which, how the heck did you get him to like you?"

"Believe me, I don't know either. He just saw me training by myself a while back, challenged me to a fight, then beat me thoroughly. And after that he said he wanted to fight me again. I doubt he has any intention of making friends.

"And you said okay to that?" Tetsutetsu asked. "If I were you I'd stay around that guy as little as possible."

"His faults are rather...extensive, but I can't deny that he's a prodigy at fighting. So if he's willing to teach me even for his own gain, I'll gladly take it. I kind of need it."

"Alright, if you say so." Tetsutetsu said, giving her a grim smile. "Don't die this weekend."

* * *

"Oi, Shitty Hair, I finally got you replaced." Bakugo said as he sat down with his lunch tray at his usual table at the cafeteria with Kirishima. "You owe me another round, got it?"

"Sorry man, I wouldn't have ditched you if I had a choice!" Kirishima said, bringing his hands together in apology. "But I'm really behind in physics, and if I don't finish that assignment, Snipe will probably chuck me in supplementary class-"

"Enough already, I didn't ask to hear you whine!" Bakugo snapped. "Or were you hoping I would help tutor you?"

"Hey, I wouldn't mind that!" Kirishima said, grinning. "By the way, if you don't mind me asking, who are you sparring with this Saturday?"

Bakugo, whose mouth was now full of curry rice, simply jabbed his finger towards a table a few rows behind Kirishima, where a number of 1-B students were sitting. Shiozaki had just arrived at the table and was placing her tray down in between two of her classmates.

Looking over his shoulder, Kirishima said, "Shiozaki? Huh." There was a hint of incredulity in his voice which Bakugo did not appreciate. "Since when were the two of you such good pals?"

Bakugo scoffed. "Like hell I'm friends with that weirdo. I just asked her to fight me this Saturday, she said yes, end of story."

"I see. And she wasn't completely put off by your overwhelmingly hostile tendencies?"

"Come again?" Bakugo said, his eyes narrowing.

"Well, you can be pretty scary sometimes, so-"

"Excuse me?!" he yelled, loudly enough for students at a nearby table to turn and stare.

"Ah, there we go."

* * *

Shiozaki stepped into Training Ground Beta at seven the next morning, yawning drearily. The sky was still dark and the air was cool, making her want to sleep more than anything else. _Why_ Bakugo wanted to meet her so early on a weekend, she had no idea.

She yawned again, before she could stop herself. It sounded pretty loud. She hoped nobody had heard her-

"Good to see you're full of energy."

Shiozaki's spirits sank as she turned to see Bakugo walking into the arena after her, dressed in his gym uniform and orange-studded boots. Sporting an upright, alert posture with his hands in his pockets and a pair of earphones most likely blasting some noisy rock song, he looked far too lively for someone who had gotten up so early.

"Morning, Bakugo." Shiozaki said, trying her best not to sound tired. "Did...did you really have to ask me to come here at this hour?"

"What, you'd rather do this later when all the other extras come flooding in?" he said, coiling his earphones around his phone and tossing it haphazardly onto a nearby bench. "It's better when we have the whole stadium to ourselves."

"Then do forgive me for not feeling at my best right now."

"I'll let it slide since you look absolutely hilarious when you're sleepy."

Shiozaki shot him a scathing look as she quickly stood up straight and brushed her untidy hair out of her face. She tried her best to come up with a retort, but Bakugo was the first to speak.

"I'm not waiting for you to wake up, we're starting now." he said as he crossed over to the other side of the arena. "Now show me how you take your stance."

Without much knowledge of hand-to-hand combat, Shiozaki did the first thing she could think of, which was to try and copy Itsuka Kendo. Doing her best to recall how her friend usually positioned herself during training lessons, she stood with her body at an angle to Bakugo's and raised her fists up to her neck.

"Fists higher up." Bakugo said after observing her for a second. "And bend your knees."

She corrected her mistakes.

"Okay, good enough. Now hit me."

Shiozaki gave him a perplexed look. "What?"

"Go on, try and hit me. Or do I need to teach you how to do that, too?"

She didn't make a move. It felt unfair for her to try and attack Bakugo while he just stood there with seemingly no intention to defend himself. She knew he probably wouldn't just stand still and take the hit, but what if she hurt him by accident?

"What, scared you'll hurt me?" Bakugo let out a small, cruel laugh. "Trust me, you're not going to land a finger on me even if you tried."

His words struck the right nerve. Yearning to knock Bakugo's excessive confidence down a peg, Shiozaki dashed forwards recklessly and took a large swing at his face.

Her fist met air as Bakugo swiftly stepped aside at the last moment, and she stumbled. Losing her balance, she fell to the floor with a loud _thud_.

Dull, aching pain spreading across her body as she sat upright, Shiozaki looked up and saw Bakugo eyeing her with a rather disparaging look. She got the distinct feeling she was being judged.

"Don't move so wildly when you attack, you're wasting energy and making it easy for the enemy to react." he said, before extending his hand to her. "Now get up."

Shiozaki reached out to take his hand, but paused at the last moment and drew her arm back, giving him a wary look. She didn't have any good reason to be suspicious, she just found it...bizarre to see anything resembling basic politeness coming from him.

Scowling, Bakugo said, "Vines, do I have fucking snakes on my face or something? I'm trying to make this quick!"

"Ugh - sorry." Shiozaki replied, biting back a number of harsher words.

She grabbed his hand and he helped her to her feet, though he let go extremely quickly.

"Right, now go back to your spot and come at me again." he instructed.

"Are you going to make me fall again?"

"You won't if you get it right."

She returned to her corner and took her stance again. Keeping in mind what Bakugo said about her movements, she dashed in again and threw her second punch. Bakugo dodged the hit. This time, she didn't lose her balance, and as she turned around she just barely saw his fist rushing towards her face, and quickly caught it in her open hand. Bakugo aimed a second punch at her stomach, which she blocked as well.

"Okay, good." Bakugo said, still engaging her with his fists. "When you see that your enemy has an opening, go in for an attack."

"O-okay-"

"I'm waiting."

At first, Shiozaki stared at him, perplexed. Then she looked down and saw that Bakugo was leaving his left flank unguarded on purpose. She raised her right knee-

Before it could make contact, something caught her roughly around the ankle and swept her off her feet. She hit the ground with another gasp of pain. Wincing, she looked up to see Bakugo's hand in front of her face again.

"You're still damn green." he said as he helped her up. "Like I said, attack when you can, but pay attention to your enemy's entire body. Do it often and you'll get better at reacting."

"Sorry." Shiozaki said, looking abashed. "This is harder than I expected..."

"Come on, don't give me that look." Bakugo said sharply. "You _are_ getting better already, so I guess you learn fast."

"Really? Thanks." she said, surprised that he had spoken such words.

"Yeah, yeah, lap up the praise. Now show me if you can make it consistent."

He jumped back two paces and brought up his fists. His expression hardened.

"Keep this up until you can last at least sixty seconds against me. Use what you've learned. It won't be too difficult..."

His lips parted into a cruel grin.

"Your move."

* * *

They sparred for nearly twenty minutes, with Shiozaki managing about thirty to forty seconds each time before she would find herself on the ground again. Sometimes Bakugo would grab her arm and pull her up before she fell, which saved her from the pain, but she was sure that he was doing this more out of exasperation than courtesy.

When she finally struck the hardwood floor for what felt like the hundredth time that day, following a missed punch and being grabbed by her outstretched arm and tossed viciously onto the ground, Bakugo was satisfied.

"Seventy-two seconds, not bad." he said, playing around with some buttons on his wristwatch. "Nowhere near Shitty Hair's level, but it's a start."

"Ow..." came a groan from somewhere around his feet.

"Come on, Vines, I told you this was still easy mode." he said as he stretched out his hand.

Shiozaki let out an exasperated sigh, but still felt a real sense of accomplishment at the same time, and she was smiling as she took his hand.

However, the moment she stood up, a wave of tiredness swept over her and she collapsed roughly into Bakugo's chest.

"Hey, what the hell?"

"S-sorry." she said, quickly separating herself from him. "I'm still a little sleepy and that was all quite...exhausting."

Bakugo didn't say anything. Having Shiozaki turn so vulnerable in front of him, even for just a moment, caught him totally off guard and he wasn't sure how to respond. He could even feel his face turning red - what the hell, this was the kind of reaction only that idiot Deku would have.

"Shit..." He pulled his collar up over his face to hide his blush. "If you're so tired go and take a break, come find me when you're ready."

* * *

Shiozaki returned to the arena ten minutes later, a half-empty energy drink clutched in her hand. She looked over at the far end of the room, where Bakugo was - unsurprisingly - striking away at one of the training mannequins in the corner. She set down her drink on the bench beside his cell phone and approached him.

"Bakugo? I'm ready."

He immediately spun around and delivered a vicious roundhouse kick to the mannequin, which took its head clean off. Shiozaki flinched.

"Good." Bakugo said, breathing hard. "Get back to your corner. We're gonna fight for real now, Quirks and everything. Same rules as before, restrain me and you win. Make sure you give me a better fight than last time."

She nodded, then they both made their way over to opposite ends of the court and took their stances. The ends of Shiozaki's vines twitched and curled. Bakugo crouched down low, flexing his fingers.

"You'd better not screw up!" Katsuki yelled. "Go!"

With a loud blast, he launched himself halfway across the arena. Several vines darted towards him, twisting like angry snakes. He incinerated them all with one swipe of his hand and continued onward.

He came within striking range of Shiozaki and flung out his right hand. She stepped aside, evading the explosion, but snapped her eyes shut out of instinct. Seeing this, Bakugo fired off two more blasts, and Shiozaki was thrown back a few paces. She staggered slightly, but quickly recovered.

_Go for his hands!_

As Bakugo went for a fourth hit, she coiled several vines around his attacking arm and forced it upwards. The explosion went skyward just at the same moment Bakugo's other arm was wound back.

_He's open!_

She instantly sent more vines forth, spreading like a vast web around Bakugo to ensnare him. With insane speed, Bakugo grabbed the vines restraining him with his free hand and torched them, then immediately fired two blasts at the floor to propel himself away from danger. The tips of the vines barely brushed against his shoe as he leapt into the air.

He retreated to the wall, grabbing onto a pipe and balancing himself on a small ledge to keep a safe distance from his opponent.

_Almost forgot how damn good she is with her Quirk,_ he thought to himself.

Redoubling his concentration, he flexed and bent his fingers.

_I'll finish this quickly._

With a series of lightning-fast explosions, he launched himself erratically around the arena and landed to the left of Shiozaki. She turned and constructed a shield of vines to protect herself. Bakugo darted around her guard and fired off a blast almost directly in her face. Staggering, she retreated several paces and sent numerous vines towards his hands. Bakugo placed his hands together and effortlessly blasted them to pieces, then quickly leapt forward.

"_Stun Grenade!"_

Shiozaki had no time to defend herself. All she managed was to shield her eyes with her vines as the explosion threw her back against a wall. The impact sent a numbing shock throughout her, and she collapsed to the floor on one knee.

Forcing one eye open, she saw Bakugo standing a short distance away, with his arms folded and an arrogant grin on his face.

"Given up?"

She refused to answer him - not that she could, given that the numbness was slowly giving way to pain. She started to weigh her options. It seemed pointless to face him head on, Bakugo was just that much faster than she was. She had to get out of his sight, even if just for a moment - but to do that against a seasoned opponent who was watching her every move?

Her eyes travelled upward to the large pipes running the length of the arena ceiling. There was a significant gap between the ceiling and the pipes. She thought of something - she didn't like having to resort to trickery, but Bakugo was crouching down and getting ready to strike again - his attack would end the match if it hit her.

Shiozaki prepared to act as Bakugo pounced at her, his arm drawn back and his palm glowing brightly.

"Die!"

The second Bakugo released the explosion, Shiozaki coiled her vines around one of the pipes and pulled herself into the air under the cover of the smoke Like an acrobat she slipped through the gap between the pipe and the ceiling, then turned around in midair as she swung down behind Bakugo.

Catching on, Bakugo spun around and raised his hand to defend himself. Acting fast, Shiozaki bound him tightly with her remaining vines, pinning his hands to his shoulders.

"Gah!"

Bakugo staggered backwards and fell to the floor.

_Can't believe I got careless,_ he said to himself silently. _If I hadn't given her those few seconds to breathe..._

He struggled to free himself from his binds, but may as well have tried to bend steel. After a few more seconds of struggling, he decided it was pointless. He was starting to look stupid anyway.

"Alright, you win!" he yelled. "Now get these things off me!"

Shiozaki released Bakugo from her grasp, feeling a distinct thrill at having successfully pulled off that improvised move; it made her win feel so much more satisfying. She looked at Bakugo still lying sprawled on the ground. Glad that she was no longer on the receiving end of this exchange, she offered him her hand.

Bakugo glanced up, somewhat surprised, then immediately averted his eyes to a corner of the arena with a mixture of embarrassment and anger present on his face. He seemed to be struggling with himself. Shiozaki half-expected him to say something unpleasant, but in the end he caved and took her hand in good faith. He still let go extremely quickly.

"How was I?" she asked earnestly.

Bakugo glared at her bitterly, then his expression lightened and he said, "Pretty good. You made use of every opening and paid attention to all my movements, even if you failed to react sometimes. Definitely better than that god-awful excuse for a fight you gave me last week."

He hesitated for a second, then added, "Just so you know, you wouldn't have won so easily if I had taken you more seriously near the end."

"Wow, was that an excuse?"

"It's an apology."

Shiozaki blinked and gave him a questioning look.

"Whatever, we're done for today." he said. "You can stay if you want, I'm going home."

"Oh, no, I'm totally exhausted, I'm leaving too."

They both went to get their belongings from the bench and sat down to rest. Shiozaki gulped down a few mouthfuls of her energy drink. Bakugo was clearing all his new text messages without reading them.

"So, we're one to one now." he said after a few seconds. "Hope you enjoyed your little win, 'cause it's not happening again, got it?"

"I'm not sure about that." Shiozaki replied. "You said I was getting better, didn't you?"

"You're welcome, by the way."

Shiozaki let out a small giggle.

"Honestly, I don't get why you're so bad at fighting hand-to-hand." Bakugo said. "You're deadly with your Quirk, so it's not like you never trained."

"Oh, um...I never really wanted to be a hero at first, so I didn't quite bother to learn." Shiozaki replied without looking at him.

"What made you change your mind?"

"Nothing, it was a whim." she said quickly.

Listening to her responses, all Bakugo could think was, _what utter bullshit._

But he didn't really care enough to keep asking, so he didn't press her for details.

"If you say so. I'm leaving." he said, standing up. "See you around."

"Oh...take care."

Bakugo left the arena without another word.

* * *

**Hey guys, I'm finally back. Sorry for disappearing off the face of the earth for a while, my life priorities were seriously out of whack for a long time and it was really hard for me to finally sit down and polish this chapter enough for posting. Updates will definitely be more frequent in the future. Thanks to all of you for the views, favourites, and comments on the first chapter.**

**Also, I changed all the characters' names from first name to last name because I realised there would be characters later on like Kirishima and Aizawa who nobody refers to by their first names so that would be awkward. I was using first names at first so that it would be easier if / when family members come into play, but I figured I could just switch to first names for a single chapter.**


	3. Maria

"Jeanist, where are the other damn extras?"

"The other interns won't be coming today, Bakugo." Best Jeanist said calmly. "Today's mission requires a bit of extra care, so I thought I'd only bring one of you. Happen to know why I picked you?"

"Because you're finally letting me beat up some thugs?" Bakugo said with a hopeful glance.

"No, so that I can show you how _I_ resolve a conflict with minimal violence. Hopefully this will help you realise you need to change for the better and..."

Bakugo shut his ears off from Best Jeanist's voice, cursing him silently. His constant refusal to let him engage in combat aside, he still hadn't forgiven him for the god-awful haircut he was always forced to wear. At least he was lucky enough to avoid the denim jeans today.

The elevator came to a stop, and they stepped out onto the highest floor of Best Jeanist's office. He led Bakugo to a frosted glass door at the end of the hallway, unlocked it, and beckoned for him to enter.

Bakugo stepped past him into a brightly lit meeting room. The entire floor was carpeted in grey, and there was a long table in the centre surrounded by ten chairs. The furthest wall was completely taken up by a vast window which allowed Bakugo to peer down at the street below.

Bakugo drew up a chair and threw himself down onto it without asking. Best Jeanist took the briefcase he was carrying and placed it on the table.

"You still haven't told me what we're doing here." Bakugo said impatiently.

"Be patient, I'm getting there." Best Jeanist said as he extracted a bunch of documents from the briefcase and arranged them neatly on the table. He then sat down across Bakugo and leaned forward.

"I've been tasked to help capture a certain villain who's been sighted around this area recently, and I'd like you to observe how I handle his arrest." he explained, before picking out a photograph from the row of documents. "Just so you know, this is our target."

He handed the photograph to Bakugo. He snatched it roughly out of his hand and scanned it.

It showed a young man with a slender build, looking behind his shoulder as he exited some dilapidated building. He had wild blond hair and blue eyes, and three downward-pointing black triangles painted below each of his eyes. The lower half of his face was wrapped in bandages, concealing his appearance. Though most of his face was hidden from view, the careful yet dauntless glare in his eyes was distinctly obvious. He wore a black overcoat with frayed sleeves over a white shirt and black trousers.

"Real name, unknown. Villain name, Nightfall." Best Jeanist said.

"Looks like a lunatic." Bakugo scoffed.

"Appearances can be deceiving. His Quirk is 'Solid Shadow'. It lets him grant substance to any shadows he touches and control them. He's mainly wanted for crimes like theft and robbery, but he's killed before. Since he only uses tools and weapons made out of shadows when he strikes, he never leaves any trace of himself and is extremely hard to track down. It took a lot of effort to obtain the information we have here."

"So now that you know where he is, you're going to find him, ambush him, and hand his ass to the cops before he can scamper." Bakugo said in a bored tone.

"Exactly. I'm glad you catch on quick."

"And you won't let me fight him."

"No."

"Even if he gives you the slip."

"He won't, and no. As I have explained to you before, your role is to simply-"

Bakugo cursed again and looked away. "Fine, whatever. Let's just go nab this guy and get it over with."

"Not so fast, I'm afraid." Best Jeanist said still as calmly as ever. "To ensure that Nightfall doesn't, as you put it, give me the slip, I have enlisted the help of Kamui Woods to assist us in his capture. He should be here with his intern soon - who also happens to be from U.A., so you two might know each other."

_Can't they come any sooner?_ Bakugo thought irritably.

At that moment, the glass door swung open and another man stepped in.

"Hey, Jeanist. Been a while." Kamui Woods casually greeted.

"Glad you could make it. I hope you're well?"

"Yeah, but drop the formalities, we should get started as soon as possible." Kamui Woods replied. He looked back into the hallway and called out, "Maria, come in."

_What the hell kind of hero name is Maria?_

At once, a girl entered the room.

"Good afternoon, Best Jeanist." she said with a bow. "My name is Ibara Shiozaki. I look forward to-"

"You?!"

Shiozaki paused abruptly and turned to stare at Bakugo.

"Oh!" she said in surprise. "I didn't expect to...see you...here..."

Her voice trailed off near the end, and Bakugo saw her lips curl into a grin as she raised a trembling hand to her mouth and began to quake with silent laughter.

Bakugo stared at her perplexedly for a moment, then he looked towards the window and saw, his stomach sinking, the appalling hairstyle in his reflection.

"Don't laugh." he growled, frantically clawing at his hair to fix it. "Don't laugh, I didn't ask for - I said stop laughing, damn it!"

Shiozaki turned away from him and buried her face in her hands, now giggling madly.

"I-I'm sorry!" she gasped. "It's just...it's just...you look like...oh my goodness...!"

Kamui Woods gave the two of them a blank, exasperated look, before turning back to Best Jeanist.

"You've already filled in your kid on the mission?"

"Naturally." Best Jeanist replied. "Bakugo, come, let's get serious already."

Bakugo pulled out the last spike of his hair and glared up at his mentor angrily, while Shiozaki immediately stopped laughing and faced Kamui Woods with a serious expression.

"Now, we would like to remind you of this one final time." Best Jeanist said sternly. "When we engage in battle, you are to simply _observe_ us. Under no circumstances are you allowed to put yourselves in danger. Is that clear?"

"Yes sir." Shiozaki answered. Bakugo simply rolled his eyes.

"Bakugo, _is that clear_?"

Fighting back the urge to simply get up and leave the room, he growled, "Yes sir."

"Good. Then we're-"

An explosion from the street below interrupted his speech. Best Jeanist and Kamui Woods looked down through the window to see smoke billowing from a jewellery shop, civilians running frantically down the road, and a group of four or five men and women entering the shop with empty bags over their shoulders.

"Looks like we'll be running behind schedule." said Kamui Woods. As he headed for the door, he turned to Shiozaki and added, "We'll be back in ten minutes."

"Bakugo, you sit this one out." Best Jeanist said as he followed him, before Bakugo had even stood up.

"Damn it!"

"Kamui, can I please...?" Shiozaki asked her mentor hopefully.

Bakugo turned to stare at her, thunderstruck. Kamui Woods eyed her with a contemplating look.

"Not today, Maria." he answered after a moment. "There's a lot of guys down there, and they must be pretty confident if they dared to do this in front of this building. Maybe next time."

Shiozaki bowed her head lightly to show that she understood, then Kamui Woods and Best Jeanist dashed out of the door.

She then walked over to the table and sat down with a completely unbothered expression. Bakugo continued to gawk at her for a few more seconds, before he finally lost control.

"He lets you fight villains with him?!" he roared indignantly.

Shiozaki looked at him and said, "Well, yes - it's nothing too dangerous, though. Usually it's just the sole thief if he's not armed, and even when we're in a more dire situation he just orders me to restrain anyone if they try to escape from him."

Bakugo received this information with a tortured expression on his face. Lowering his head into his hands, he mumbled, "How the hell did I shoot so high and hit so low...?"

"What do you mean?" Shiozaki asked. "The nation's number three not good enough for you?"

"Hell. No. Jeanist sucks."

"What makes you say that?"

Bakugo glanced at her from between his fingers. Memories from the past few days of early morning roll calls, painfully long periods of sitting still as he watched his hair get decimated, getting laughed at by children on the street, and otherwise uneventful patrols flashed through his mind like a photo reel.

"I don't want to talk about it."

"Why-"

_"I don't want to talk about it."_

A blast of purple fire from the street below illuminated the room with its light. The two of them looked out the window to see Best Jeanist weaving in between jets of fire as he sprinted towards one of the robbers.

"I could have handled that." Bakugo spat. He watched the scene on the street for a few more seconds before he turned away again, glaring into blank space.

Shiozaki decided to take pity on him and lighten the mood.

"What's your hero name?" she asked conversationally.

"Don't have one." Bakugo replied without looking at her.

"Really? Someone like you, I expected to have come up with lots of names."

"I _did_, but they all got shot down!"

"Oh? Such as?" Shiozaki asked, feeling that there was probably a good reason his ideas were rejected.

"King Explosion Murder, Lord Expression Murder, Explosion Murder-"

"I knew it. Are you _trying_ to be unpopular? You only like names that'll scare the kids away."

"Yeah? And why'd you call yourself Maria? Sounds like a second-rate cosmetics chain!"

"It is a name derived from Biblical scriptures, representing the woman who brought a symbol of salvation into this world. I chose this name to signify my-"

"You're Christian?" Bakugo interrupted her.

"I am."

"You're _seriously_ unusual." he said. He glanced at the flowing white robe she was wearing and remarked, "Still, guess it fits that you look like an angel."

Shiozaki looked at Bakugo with a mixture of astonishment and embarrassment, as she raised a hand to her mouth.

"Come again?"

"Huh? Wait, fuck, that came out wrong, I was talking about your costume! I didn't mean - stop giving me that face, you-!"

"Is everything alright in here?"

The two of them turned around just as the door swung open and their mentors returned to the room, their faces still red and flustered. Kamui Woods took one look at each of their expressions before apparently deciding he didn't want to know.

Turning to Best Jeanist, he said, "I think we should get going now."

"Of course." Best Jeanist replied. "Gather round, you two."

Bakugo and Shiozaki got up from their seats and walked over, deliberately not looking at each other.

"Ready? Let's go. It's a bit of a long walk, so I hope it's okay with you if you might not make it back in time for dinner."

"Remind me what's the point of coming with you fucks again if you won't let me do jackshit?" Bakugo remarked.

He was instantly forced to shut his mouth to hold back a yelp of pain as Shiozaki stomped painfully on his foot.

"Sorry, Kamui Woods. Yes, we are ready to go." she said brightly.

"Some angel you are." Bakugo hissed silently.

* * *

Twenty minutes later, they were walking down a quiet, slightly run-down street mostly devoid of people and with a significant amount of dust and soot covering the buildings. Best Jeanist and Kamui Woods were checking behind them every few minutes to ensure their interns were still following them.

Best Jeanist was the first to speak in a while. "Bakugo, the usual reminder-"

"I know already!"

At that moment, Kamui Woods tapped Best Jeanist on his shoulder and showed him something on his cell phone.

"Edgeshot just sent this, I think it might help..."

Temporarily spared from Best Jeanist's attention, Bakugo seized his opportunity. He grabbed Shiozaki by the shoulder, mouthed the words, "Shut the hell up," and dragged her aside into a dark alleyway.

Initially too stunned to react, Shiozaki didn't resist or do anything to stop him, but quickly returned to her senses.

"Bakugo, what's the meaning of this?" she demanded, wrenching herself free of his grip about halfway down the alleyway.

"What do you think?" Bakugo shouted as he stormed off ahead of her. "I won't gain anything just by watching Best Douchebag take down some random robber! I'm going to see if there's something I can actually do!"

Shiozaki stared at him.

"You know you can't do that."

"Sure I can, have you seen the kind of street we're on? There's definitely a poor sucker or two who thinks he can get away with pickpocketing or some-"

"You know what I mean!" Shiozaki protested, almost running to keep up with him. "It's illegal to do hero work without a provisional license! I could go right back and tell Best Jeanist about this-"

"You won't, that's why I dragged you along with me." he said as they rounded a corner in the alleyway and passed beneath some abandoned builders' scaffolding. "I knew you'd pull that shit on me."

"Bakugo, you-"

"Be quiet."

"Baku-"

_"I said be quiet, damn it!"_

He had stopped dead in his tracks, and was holding out his arm to prevent Shiozaki walking ahead of him. His tone had suddenly turned anxious. Shiozaki stared at the look of alarm on his face, and turned uneasy.

"What?" she whispered.

Bakugo didn't say anything, and just pointed ahead at the end of the alley.

There was a figure standing there with his back turned to them. He was dressed in black and his hair was a pale yellow. In his hand he held a completely black sword, which did not seem to be made from metal of any kind. It was pointed at something on the ground in front of him. A cat hissed loudly, and it darted out between his legs and scampered.

"Just a cat." they heard him mutter as he swung the blade over his shoulder. "Gave me a scare..."

The sword, struck by the afternoon rays beaming down into the alley, did not glisten or shine. It was as though it were made from shadow.

Immediately, Bakugo and Shiozaki darted behind a nearby dumpster and hid there, not making a noise and staying as still as possible.

Shiozaki's heart was racing madly, her hands clamped tightly over her mouth as she tried to steady her rapid breathing. Bakugo, however, was smirking like he had just won the lottery.

"Damn...seeing him scared me for a second, but I couldn't be fucking luckier!"

Shiozaki stared at him, her face deathly pale.

"You can't seriously be thinking of-"

"No shit I am! You can't expect me to let a catch this big go!"

He actually made to dash out from behind the dumpster right there and then, before Shiozaki grabbed his arm and pulled him back.

"Bakugo, _listen to me_!" she pleaded in a whisper. "I - I understand your internship hasn't been going the way you want, or whatever, but you need to calm down! What good will it do to confront a known killer without help from our mentors? I know you've fought villains before, but this is different!"

She moved her hands down to his and gripped it tight.

"Please - you're not thinking straight. This man is on the same level as that Stain criminal who's made the news recently. You might not beat him, and even if you do, you'd get into trouble with our school. So please, _please_ let's just go."

Bakugo glared coldly at her, ready to smack her hands away, ready to tell her to shove it. But he saw for a few seconds the utter desperation in her eyes, and his defiance started to waver.

"Gah, fine!" he snapped. "We'll play by the books, go back to those two and tell them their guy is here, if that makes you happy!"

Shiozaki breathed a sigh of relief. At once, the two of them got to their feet and snuck out from behind the dumpster. They then made their way back towards the main street as quietly as possible, nearing the corner with the abandoned scaffolding.

Out of nowhere, a black sword came soaring over their heads at the scaffolding, and sliced through the steel supports holding it up. Within an instant, numerous steel beams came crashing down in front of Bakugo and Shiozaki, blocking the exit with a wall of rubble.

They turned around in dread, knowing the worst had just happened. Nightfall was glaring straight at them from the end of the alley, his right hand outstretched and a murderous glint in his eyes.

"You think I didn't hear you two sneaking around? This ain't my first day on the job!" he roared, placing his hand on the brick wall beside him.

At once, the shadows on the wall ran off its surface like water and gathered around his hand. When he removed it, a sphere of solid black matter was revolving around slowly in his palm.

He sized up the pair, eyeing their costumes.

"You two from some hero school? Too bad they'll never know what happened to you - I'll have you know I _never leave witnesses_."

He started to approach them. Panicking, Shiozaki turned to look at Bakugo with fear etched all over her face.

"Bakugo!"

"Shit..."

* * *

**There, promise kept!**

**Honestly, trying to name this villain was a nightmare. 'Shadow Thief' is taken, 'Black Hand' is taken, all the most fitting names are taken. I was initially going to use Black Hand anyway, but then I decided to try and be original. **


	4. Shadows

Raising his hand, Nightfall flung the orb of shadow forth and it split into numerous spiked shards.

Bakugo and Shiozaki leapt aside as the dark spikes pierced the wall of rubble behind them, quivering ominously before melting away. That attack could have easily shredded human flesh - Nightfall was seriously fighting to kill.

"Heh, guess I get to fight this bastard after all!" Bakugo said with an eager grin.

"Listen to me!" Shiozaki said. "There's no way you can take him on your own!"

"Girl, are you seriously trying to stop me now?"

"That's not it, I'm saying we need to do this together!"

Bakugo shot her a questioning glare. He had fully expected her to say they should run, taking her for the type that would refuse to fight up until the very last second - at least she knew when to abandon that mentality when there was clearly no way out.

"Fine." he said, crouching down low. "Try to keep up."

He launched himself at Nightfall with his explosions, his right hand raised. Nightfall touched the brick wall again and a screen of shadow quickly spread out between them. It blocked the blast and shattered. He placed his other hand on the wall behind him, creating an axe from the shadows. He swung it at Bakugo's neck. He ducked and it missed him. Numerous vines quickly shot forward and wrapped themselves around the weapon.

Shiozaki stepped forth, snapping the axe into pieces with a twist of her vines. She immediately sent more vines forward to ensnare Nightfall as he swiftly formed a pair of swords and began to slash them to shreds. Under her cover, Bakugo leapt back behind the dumpster.

"Vines, move!"

With an explosive boost, he gave the dumpster a forceful kick towards the duelling pair. Shiozaki looked round and leapt above the speeding mass with her vines. Unable to dodge, Nightfall was forced to draw up a barrier to hold back its weight.

Shiozaki quickly retreated and joined up with Bakugo.

"His shadows don't seem too durable!" she said confidently. "Our best bet would be to lay on powerful attacks until he can't defend himself anymore!"

"Heh, Kamui taught you good." Bakugo said as Shiozaki sent her vines flying towards Nightfall once more. Following her lead, he leapt forward and curled a finger around his gauntlet's grenade pin.

Nightfall flung the dumpster aside using several coils of shadow, his sharp gaze narrowing.

"You two think I don't have other ways of defending myself?!"

At once, the coils morphed and stretched into a structure like a large spider's web, which he held out in front of him. As the vines passed through the shape, it instantly shrunk inwards, slicing cleanly through them.

He then bent down and touched his own shadow. It sprung up in the shape of a rope, coiled itself around Bakugo's ankle before he could fire his support item and threw him - bodily threw him, all in the span of a second. He slammed into the wall at the end of the alley, and let out a grunt of pain as he collapsed to the floor.

In an instant, two black daggers came flying in his direction and pierced through his gauntlets. They burst open and sparks started to fly out of the cracks.

Looking down at his damaged gauntlets, Bakugo gritted his teeth.

_He could've killed me with that, is he fucking toying with us?_

He quickly tore off his support items and got to his feet. At the other end of the alley, Nightfall had pinned Shiozaki roughly against the wall of rubble by her neck. He was glaring intently at her face as he pressed a blade to the side of her neck. Bakugo wasted no time in leaping towards him.

"Get the fuck away from her, you're not done with me yet!"

He kicked Nightfall hard in the back of his head and he let go of Shiozaki. She fell to the floor, clutching her throat and gasping. Nightfall spun around and transformed his blade into a shield as Bakugo fired another blast at him. The shield crumbled, and Nightfall circled around to Bakugo's back. He fashioned himself a dagger from the shadows on the nearby wall, then plunged it down towards his back. Bakugo whipped around, his hand raised to defend himself. Suddenly, shadowy tendrils shot out from Nightfall's other hand, gripped his outstretched arm and forced it aside, exposing Bakugo's chest and neck. The dagger swung upwards-

"Bakugo!"

Several vines shot forth and knocked the knife out of Nightfall's hand. Reacting fast, Bakugo fired off a blast in his face. He roared out in pain and leapt back several paces. Bakugo retreated back to Shiozaki's side, his heart racing.

"Damn...thanks, Angel." he said, breathing hard.

Shiozaki gave him a surprised glance at these words, but quickly returned her gaze forward.

"Don't mention it - we'll talk after we make it out of this alive. He's onto our tricks, I don't think we can attack him head on anymore - if we can't catch him by surprise somehow I fear we're on the losing end."

"Yeah, I know. But I've got a way around that."

"Let's hear it."

"Remember back when you fought the lightning nimrod?"

Several metres away, Nightfall touched the wall and prepared himself another ball of shadow.

"Come on!" he yelled as he shaped the orb into a javelin.

"Know what to do, Vines?"

"Yes."

"Go!"

At once, Bakugo charged straight towards Nightfall. He threw the javelin and Bakugo dodged in midair, landing right in front of Nightfall. He started blasting him with explosion after explosion, while he defended himself with several shields.

After a few seconds, Bakugo yelled, "Fucking hell, you done yet?"

"Just barely getting started, kid." Nightfall said.

"Wasn't talking to you."

At that moment, multiple vines erupted out of the ground in a ring around Nightfall, rising up around him like a tall, thorny cage. Nightfall raised his shield as he tried to transform it, but the vines had already ensnared his arms, body, and legs, completely stopping his movement.

"Son of a-" he breathed.

"Right back at you. Now die!"

Bakugo launched himself into the air, spun around a few times, and rocketed back down towards Nightfall.

_"Howitzer Impact!"_

The blast struck Nightfall head on, searing his body and incinerating the vines holding him. Several metres away, Shiozaki formed a shield of vines to protect herself from the bright light. Gradually, the dust cleared, and she peeked out from between her vines to see Bakugo standing over Nightfall's motionless body.

"He's down." Bakugo said, breathing heavily. "You can get out of there now."

Shiozaki retracted her vines and edged over to where Bakugo was standing. Warily, she peered down at Nightfall. His limbs were bent in awkward directions, his head was lying sideways, and every inch of his body was blackened with soot.

"Is he...dead?" Shiozaki asked.

"Do you want him to be?" Bakugo growled, raising a sparking hand.

"No of course not, I just - ouch..."

"Hey, you alright?" Bakugo said, turning his attention to her. She was gripping her shoulder, a slow trickle of blood oozing out from a cut there.

"I - I'm fine." she replied gingerly. "It's just a scratch-"

"Oi, look out!"

The second he pulled Shiozaki towards him, several heavy bricks came crashing down on the spot she had been standing, probably dislodged during their fight with the villain.

"Damn it, Angel. Don't die in front of...me."

His voice trailed off as he looked down at Shiozaki. She was staring up at him with a flustered expression, her face extremely red and her lips trembling rather badly.

Bakugo soon realised what was wrong. He was holding her _way too close_. With her body almost pressing against his as he held her by her neck and back, it looked like he was embracing her.

"Crap - sorry." he said, hastily pulling his hands away from her like she had burned him. She immediately stepped back, putting some distance between them.

For a moment, neither of them said anything - then they looked sideways in shock as Nightfall rose up from the ground with his arms and head hanging limply like a zombie.

He looked up.

"Heh...that tickled."

"Angel, get back!"

Bakugo instantly leapt away with an explosion. Shiozaki, overwhelmed by fear and panic, simply stood rooted to the spot as Nightfall raised his arm.

With a frightening speed he had not displayed before, he bent down and slammed his palm onto his shadow. It transformed into a tendril with a bladed end and lashed out at Shiozaki's leg.

"Agh!"

She cried out in pain, collapsing to the floor as a long gash appeared through her robe. She clutched at the wound as blood gushed from it, staining her hands and robe red.

Bakugo's stomach turned.

"I'll deal with you first, girl!" Nightfall roared.

The dark tendril morphed into a long blade with a serrated edge. He grasped it in both hands and rushed towards Shiozaki with murder written in his eyes.

Acting quickly, Bakugo leapt forth to stop the blade. Darting in front of Nightfall, he seized the weapon with both hands. Gritting his teeth, he forced it back. Nightfall just leered at him.

Suddenly, the blade morphed into a giant fist and seized Bakugo's right arm. He reached for it with his free hand to blast it off-

There was a sickening crack.

"Gahhhhh, fuck!"

Nightfall had crushed his arm all the way down to the bone. Bakugo dropped to the floor like Shiozaki as he grasped his shattered arm. It hurt - it hurt so damn bad - and the pain seemed to multiply with every second he focused on it.

_Fuck, this hurts like hell! _he thought. _Is this what that damn nerd has to go through every time?!_

Nightfall gave the giant fist a flick, and it transformed back into a blade. He raised it up high-

The frayed sleeves of his overcoat suddenly unfurled into thin threads and wrapped around his arm.

"What?"

_"Lacquered Chain Prison!"_

A whirl of thick branches swiftly descended on Nightfall from above, constricting him firmly. A figure clad in blue instantly leapt down from over the wall, sprung forward, and struck him square in the face with a forceful punch. Nightfall let out a grunt of pain, then fell silent.

"Sweet dreams." Best Jeanist said as he pulled back his fist.

Kamui Woods dropped down beside him and immediately rushed over to Shiozaki. Kneeling down, he pulled out a handkerchief from his belt.

"That looks bad." he said. "Use this to stop the bleeding."

Best Jeanist wasn't so courteous with Bakugo. Pulling him aside, he demanded, "Bakugo, what on earth happened here?"

"What does it look like?"

Best Jeanist stared at him furiously for a moment, then sighed and ran a hand through his neatly combed hair.

"I really can't fix that reckless attitude of yours, can I?" he said. "Alright - I don't want to get you expelled, so I'll take full responsibility for what happened here - but you _will_ hear from me after you get medical treatment, and you are hereby _banned_ from any and all patrols, missions, or anything related to hero work for the rest of your week with me."

Bakugo opened his mouth to argue, outraged, but swiftly desisted as he realised he was on the losing end.

"I've already called the police and the EMTs." Kamui Woods said as he approached them. "They should be here in five minutes to get Nightfall - and take care of the kids."

Best Jeanist nodded. "I appreciate it. I'll take care of the incident report-"

"Vines has got nothing to do with this." Bakugo interrupted. "I forced her to come with me."

"You can tell me later." Best Jeanist said sharply. "For now, just get that arm fixed up and come back to the office by eight."

* * *

"You got lucky, boy. Injuries like these usually require more than minor surgery. The things that happen at that school of yours..."

Bakugo said nothing. He just stared blankly down at his useless arm, now wrapped in thick white bandages and set firmly in a cast. It was starting to itch.

"Well, your arm would normally take about two months to heal, but once you get back to your school you can ask that healing hero to fix it up immediately. Other than that, you may go."

Bakugo immediately leapt up from his seat and made to leave the room. He didn't care much about being rude at this point - not that he ever did, but right now, he couldn't have cared if he tried. He was tired, hungry, and aching everywhere, and he still had an earful to get from Best Jeanist when he got back, _and_ he was out of commission for the rest of his internship.

_What a fucking awful day._

He stepped out into the hospital corridor. Shiozaki was waiting for him outside with an anxious look on her face. They both approached each other slowly.

"Sorry." they both said at the same time.

Bakugo raised an eyebrow.

"The hell are you apologising for? I'm the one who dragged us into that hell of a mess like a complete idiot."

"I - I couldn't move." she said timidly. "If I had just leapt back at that last second, if I was just able to think straight - you wouldn't have had to protect me, and then you wouldn't have gotten your arm broken..."

"Look, I know I'm an ass but I wasn't going to let you die." he said sharply. "We both thought he was knocked out, it's not your fault he got you. And I'm the one who caused you to have to fight him in the first place, so drop it, okay?"

He looked closer at Shiozaki. The wounds on her shoulder and leg were now gone, and the only sign that she had been in a fight at all were the small rips in her robe.

"What about you?" he said. "I don't see any cuts on you."

"One of the doctors had a Quirk that seals wounds, so I'm fine."

"Lucky you." Bakugo said bitterly as he stared down at his arm.

There was a moment of silence.

"I'm sorry."

"I said _drop it_."

He stepped past Shiozaki towards the exit.

"I'm going to grab dinner before I go back to the office, you want in? They've got a discount for double dining across the street."

"I - alright."

* * *

Thirty minutes later, they were sitting in the ramen shop opposite the hospital. Shiozaki was already done with her meal and was waiting for Bakugo to finish with his - he was having a bit of trouble.

With his right arm in a cast, all he could do was clumsily try and grasp food with his left hand, his chopsticks constantly slipping out of place. Shiozaki probably would have found the sight amusing if she wasn't still feeling bad over his arm.

"Son - of - a - this isn't working." Bakugo said as another slice of meat fell back inside the bowl, splashing his face with droplets of hot soup. "I give up, let's just go."

He set his chopsticks across the bowl and pushed it away, its contents still half full, then started rummaging around for his wallet.

He struggled to extract it from his pocket for a good ten seconds. When he finally got it out, he looked up - and saw Shiozaki holding his chopsticks out in front of his face, grasping several noodles. She was determinedly not looking at him, her gaze fixed on the street outside, and with a mortified blush on her face as she hid her mouth behind her left hand.

Bakugo mouthed wordlessly for a moment, then croaked, "Angel, I didn't ask for your damn help-"

"Look, no matter whose fault it was, I still feel like you got hurt because of me, so please just..."

Her voice went dead and she moved the chopsticks forward, still staring out the window.

Resigning himself to his fate, Bakugo leaned forward and let her feed him. He immediately felt his face burn up, which had nothing to do with the temperature of the soup.

He silently prayed to whatever deity existed that nobody he knew would happen to pass by and see them. Kaminari or Kirishima would never let him hear the end of this. Holy shit, please not Kaminari.

After he swallowed, he croaked, "After this I'm paying for your meal."

"Fine..."

* * *

**Oh joy...exam time...for me...yay...**

**You might want to expect a drop in upload frequency for the next month or so. Other than that, thank you for reading!**


	5. Guilt

On Monday, Shiozaki arrived at school thirty minutes early. She felt a little drowsy, but she didn't care about that. There was something she wanted to take care of before class started...

She stood outside her classroom and waited. It wasn't long until she spotted a figure with blond hair appearing round the corner at the end of the corridor. Bakugo was walking towards his classroom, furiously scratching at his head as he tried to undo the hairstyle Best Jeanist had forced on him again. Shiozaki didn't find this quite as amusing as last time.

Slowly, she walked up to him.

"Hi."

"Huh?" Bakugo stopped pulling at his hair and looked up. "Oh, it's you."

"H-how's your arm?"

"Fine, the old lady fixed it up in about a second. What do you want?"

"Nothing, I just wanted to check-"

"You're not still beating yourself up over my arm, are you?

"I...no-"

"Yeah you are." Bakugo's expression turned annoyed and he said, "We talked about this already, it was my fault we ended up in that mess. Damn it, don't make me feel worse than I...already...do..."

His eyelids flitted hazily and he fell forward.

"Hey, are you alright?" Shiozaki exclaimed as she reached out to stop his fall. She placed a hand on his cheek and gently tilted up his face. "What's the matter?"

"I'm fine, let go of me." he said weakly. "It's just that old woman's goddamn Quirk..."

He looked at Shiozaki's face. Maybe he was just too damn tired to think straight, but looking at the concern in her eyes and feeling her touch on his face, he couldn't help but feel like a small part of his mind liked this...

He heard several footsteps approaching them from behind. Glancing over his shoulder, he saw Tenya Iida, Eijiro Kirishima, and three girls from Shiozaki's class whose names he couldn't remember all in deep conversation as they walked down the corridor.

"Crap. See you later, Angel."

The two broke apart and Bakugo straightened himself up. With a lazy brush of his hand which Shiozaki decided to count as a wave, he walked past her and went into his classroom.

* * *

"So...how long has this been going on?" Setsuna Tokage asked Shiozaki slyly as she entered the classroom behind her.

"Bakugo and I aren't an item." she answered flatly.

"Ah! I didn't say anything!"

"Tokage, I've been your friend for two months now, I know what goes on in that head of yours." she said with a smirk. "What you saw just now was nothing."

"Didn't look like nothing to me." Kinoko Komori said as she walked up to them. "Getting all up in his face, caressing his cheek - kinda looked like you were gonna..."

She held up a hand to her lips and blew a kiss.

_"Shroom."_

"Komori!" Shiozaki shouted, her heart racing. The other two started laughing.

"Oh, give her a break, you two." Kendo said from her seat. "After what happened to them last week, it's only natural they're a little worried for each other."

"Thanks, Kendo, I - wait, how do you know what happened last week?"

"Didn't you see? You two were on the news, _shroom_." Komori handed her cell phone to Shiozaki; there was a news article on the screen. She took the phone and read the heading.

**《Wanted Villain Placed Under Arrest Following Attack On Two U.A. Students. Culprit Still Awaiting Identification.》**

Below that was a photo of the villain she and Bakugo had fought, followed by several paragraphs of information about Nightfall's past crimes, Quirk, and astounding ability to avoid capture. At the end of the article was a short segment stating that the students he fought had fire-based and plant-based Quirks.

"We know Todoroki got into trouble with Stain, so that couldn't have been him." Komori said. "And that leaves only one fire and one plant user in our whole year, so..."

"I see..."

Shiozaki was only partially listening, being mainly preoccupied with staring at the photo of Nightfall. Even now, those eyes were _really_ creepy...

She looked up to distract herself, and saw Kendo scolding Tokage, who was now performing alternating impressions of a scowling boy flexing his fingers and a serene-faced girl clasping her hands together in prayer.

* * *

"If you're done _fucking laughing_...!" a scowling boy flexing his fingers yelled one classroom away.

Sero and Kirishima continued to howl with laughter at Bakugo's hairstyle until it burst back into its original shape. As their laughter died down, they gasped for breath, wheezing and clutching at their stomachs. Bakugo returned to his seat with a scowl.

Just as he thought he was finally about to get some reprieve, Kirishima swiftly stepped over to him and placed an arm around his shoulder.

"By the way, what happened to you not being friends with Shiozaki?" he asked with a smirk. "It almost seemed like you guys were _more_ than friends just now."

"Wait, what? Did I miss something?" Denki Kaminari asked eagerly, appearing at their side out of nowhere.

"Oh man, you should've seen it. Just the two of them, staring lovingly into each other's eyes..."

Kaminari whistled.

At once, Bakugo leapt out from his seat and grabbed the two by their collars. Completely unfazed, they started laughing.

"Talk about me like that again and you two can kiss your asses goodbye." he growled.

"Hey man, just saying - if I were you I'd totally make a move on her." Kaminari said with a grin. "She's top-tier beautiful _and_ a kind soul who'd never lay a finger on you - I'd die to land a girl like that!"

In the corner of his eye Bakugo saw Kyoka Jiro shoot Kaminari the most fleeting of looks.

"I'll keep that in mind." he said. "Now can you let me _fucking sleep_ before class starts?!"

Kirishima and Kaminari immediately left to talk to Sero and Mina Ashido, and Bakugo placed his head on his desk and closed his eyes.

* * *

Shiozaki spent her lunch period in her classroom working on math problems. Staring down at the worksheet, she crossed out her third incorrect line in a row and leaned forward with a furrowed brow.

"Oi. _Oi_."

She checked her negative values. They seemed to be correct. Wrong formula?

"Oi, Vines! Catch!"

She looked up and saw something small flying at her. She caught it roughly in her hands and looked at it. It was a packet of her favourite custard bun from the cafeteria.

Bakugo approached her from the front of the classroom.

"You didn't come down with the rest of your class and I heard that slimy copycat say you were up here cramming, so here I am." he said before she had even asked. "I came here to say something, so I'll make it quick."

He walked over to the desk beside hers and threw himself onto it.

"Tetsutetsu will kill you if he sees you sitting there." Shiozaki said.

"I'd like to see him try." Bakugo replied indifferently. Looking away from her with a slightly ashamed expression, he added, "Hey look - I know I keep telling you to forget about my arm, but I feel like total shit myself for nearly getting you killed, so...I guess I want to make up for it."

Shiozaki looked at him in surprise.

"Well - that's unexpected coming from you, but I'm touched." she smiled radiantly as she held up the custard bun. "I shall gladly accept your gift-"

"I'm not talking about the bun." he interrupted. "Speaking of which, two hundred yen, pay up."

Shiozaki frowned as she reached for her wallet and pulled out two silver coins.

Bakugo took the money and said, "Anyway, the end-of-term exams are coming up, and anyone who fails a single subject will be exempted from some training camp they're holding over the summer."

"Really? My homeroom teacher didn't say anything about the exams yet."

"Neither did mine, but apparently I'm the only damn person who keeps up with announcements on the school website. My point is, you need help with any subject?"

"Well, as you can see..." Shiozaki indicated the math worksheet in front of her.

"Fine. Fight me again this Saturday and we'll go somewhere after that to study. Bring your notes and textbook and whatever else you need."

"Why can't we just stay in school?"

"They close the classrooms on weekends and I can't speak to you in the library."

"Well, in that case, to make things easier, can we just go to my place?"

"Yeah, I - hold on, what?" Bakugo's posture straightened up. "You're okay with that?"

"Bakugo, do you have any idea how brutal you are?" Shiozaki asked as she unwrapped the custard bun. "I can barely walk after a fight with you, I don't want to go anywhere afterwards but my house. So yes, my place is perfectly fine. I'll need to tell my parents first, though."

Bakugo remained silent as he considered her request. He wasn't even sure why he was hesitating at the moment, he just felt like he shouldn't be agreeing to this so readily.

"I...alright, fine, if that's what you want." he finally said, part of him regretting his offer.

He watched Shiozaki take a bite out of the bun, a look of childlike bliss on her face. He found the sight amusing.

"Delicious." she said cheerfully. "How did you know this was my favourite?"

"Uh, I didn't, genius. I just-"

"Oi, what the hell are you doing here?!"

Bakugo looked up. Tetsutetsu had just walked in the back door, his face full of fury at the sight of Bakugo sitting on his desk.

"See you on Saturday." Bakugo swiftly muttered to Shiozaki as he leapt down and made a beeline for the front door. As he left the classroom, he could hear Shiozaki behind him desperately trying to subdue her enraged classmate.

* * *

**In case you're concerned I'm throwing Kirishima aside to make way for these interactions, don't worry. His relationship with Bakugo is sacred and I wish to do it justice.**

**This chapter was extremely short, so I've got nothing else to say other than the usual - thanks!**


	6. Sweet Leaf

As Shiozaki's vines flew out in front of her to form a shield, a hand shot out between them and fired off an explosion in her face. She cried out and staggered backwards, and Bakugo leapt forth to pin her down.

"Nice try, but still too slow." he hissed in her ear.

Shiozaki sighed as she accepted her defeat. Still, she was satisfied with how the match went, and was smiling as Bakugo helped her to her feet. He didn't let go as quickly as last time.

Bakugo grabbed his half-finished bottle of water from the side of the arena and drained it. He then turned to her and asked, "Alright, how far is it to your place?"

"Not too far, just a few stations." she answered with the same bright smile. "Thanks for offering to help, by the way. I really needed-"

"I told you not to mention it." he said, staring off into a corner of the stadium. "I'd just feel bad if I didn't. Now can we go already?"

* * *

Shiozaki's home wasn't overly large or grand-looking compared to any of the other houses around it, yet when Bakugo first laid eyes on it half an hour later he felt like he had been hit by a divine burst of colour.

The front yard was lined with bushes of chrysanths, clumps of bellflowers, stalks of alliums, rows of peonies, and clusters of dahlias. There were just enough plants to decorate every bit of the lawn without it looking too crowded. Some of them grew high enough to peek over the concrete fence, where the Shiozaki family name was displayed next to the gate. From there, a smooth stone path ran all the way to the front door.

"How the hell do you take care of all these...?" Bakugo asked, secretly impressed as they stepped through the gate.

"It's my dad's Quirk." she said. "He can make plants grow any way he wants with a touch. It only takes seconds for him to take a dying one and make it look really beautiful - he might be home right now, I'm not sure though."

They reached the front door. As Shiozaki kicked off her shoes, she opened the door by a sliver and called out, "Sai, I'm back. Is Dad home?"

Bakugo followed her into the living room. It was decorated in a rather old-fashioned manner, with every bit of fabric from the armchairs to the curtains designed using vintage floral patterns. A tall willow-patterned vase stood in one corner, just below a wooden cross. A painting of a rocky landscape and orange sunset hung on the furthest wall.

A young man was sitting on the sofa, mulling over something on a laptop. He looked around twenty years of age, and - unsurprisingly - had vines for hair, though they only grew down to his neck. He was muttering annoyedly as he typed away on his keyboard.

"Sakuraki, if we lose this client because of you, I will-"

"Saimei, I know you heard me." Ibara said unamusedly.

"Sorry, it's always fun ignoring you." the young man laughed as he placed his laptop aside. "You said you were bringing a friend?"

He looked round and his eyes fell on Bakugo. At once, his face darkened.

"Isn't that the kid with the explosion Quirk who won the sports festival?" he asked, not bothering to keep his voice down.

"Where are Mom and Dad?" Ibara asked him, refusing to answer his question.

"They're coming back with lunch later." Saimei said as he shot Bakugo another disapproving look. "Wash up before they come back."

"Thanks." Ibara quickly said before grabbing Bakugo's arm and pulling him upstairs, because the look on his face was telling her he was about to get less than pleasant with her brother.

"What the actual hell does he have against me?" he demanded as they climbed the stairs.

"Sorry about him." Shiozaki said. "When he first watched you fight that Uraraka girl on TV...well, it gave him a rather negative impression of you. But please don't hold it against him, he's always been a little over-protective of me. He nearly freaked out when I first told him I wanted to be a h...never mind."

Bakugo shot a glance in her direction, but she didn't meet his gaze.

They reached the second floor, and she led him to a door on the right. She was about to open it when Bakugo stopped and said, "Wait, is this your bedroom or the study?"

"My room." she said casually. "Is there a problem?"

"I, uh, thought girls weren't okay with..."

"Oh, that - well, I'd rather study somewhere I'm more comfortable, and I trust that you wouldn't commit such...acts, so I was certain this wouldn't be a problem - unless you are having certain thoughts I should know about?" she glowered, the ends of her vines raising up.

"No, I - don't say it like that, damn it!" Bakugo shouted. "There's no problem, just go in already!"

Shiozaki opened the door and Bakugo followed her inside a bit hesitantly.

Her room seemed ordinary for the most part, containing all the same furniture other students their age would have. The only things he noticed that stood out to him were the small row of houseplants on the windowsill and the copy of the Bible on her drawer.

She walked over to her closet and started searching through it.

"I need to go take a shower first, so you can just wait here if you'd like." she said as she pulled out some clothes and a towel. "My math things are already on my desk, I've marked out the bits I'm having trouble with-"

She paused, turning around to look at Bakugo.

"Actually, can I ask you to go take a shower too?"

His eyes narrowed. "What?"

"I know this is sudden, but we're _both_ really filthy after that fight, and I'd prefer it if you cleaned up a little because my mom's a serious neat freak and might kick you out of the house if you look the way you do now."

Outraged, Bakugo said, "You should've told me earlier, idiot! I didn't bring extra clothes or anything-"

"Just wear your gym uniform, I only need you to look a _little_ more presentable." Shiozaki said coolly as she stepped past him. "The bathroom's down the hall, there's an extra towel there - just wait until I'm done with it first."

She left the room before Bakugo could say anything else, leaving him staring foolishly at the back of the door for a few seconds. Eventually, he satisfied himself by throwing his arms in the air as though to say this wasn't his problem. He then walked over to the extra chair Shiozaki had placed beside the desk for him, sat down, and grabbed her textbook.

* * *

He spent the next few minutes looking through the sections she had highlighted in yellow, which were clearly the parts she had problems with.

_This one's wrong...that one's wrong...what the hell is she even writing here...?_

At that moment, something caught his eye. A photo frame was placed on the bottom row of her shelf, facing inwards to the wall.

He craned his head to the side. Was there something Shiozaki didn't want him to see? Normally he would have ignored its presence, but he was feeling rather spiteful towards her at the moment, so he brazenly stood up and grabbed the photo frame.

He flipped it around. There were two photographs inside it, placed side by side. The first was of a much younger Shiozaki, maybe at seven or eight years old, holding a fluffy white cat in her arms as she kissed it on the top of its head. The cat did not look very pleased.

The second picture showed the cat leaping out of Shiozaki's arms furiously, scratching her on the nose as she fell back with tears in her eyes.

Bakugo let out a short snicker. It was cruel, but he didn't care - these pictures were fucking priceless. If he ever needed something to shut Shiozaki up-

The doorknob clicked. Reacting swiftly, Bakugo placed the photo frame back on the shelf, facing inwards, and turned around. Shiozaki entered the room, wearing her home clothes and drying her hair off with a towel. She had a vague scent of dandelion about her.

She didn't seem to notice anything out of the ordinary. Keeping a straight face, Bakugo crossed over to the door.

"I've written in some things for you." he said to her as he left the room. "Take a look at it and finish up one or two basic questions before I get back."

* * *

In the shower room, Bakugo finished rinsing his body in hot water, then he reached for the shampoo bottle and...

_What. The. Fuck?! Leaf spray?!_

For a second he thought it was some kind of stupid joke, then he remembered whose shower he was using.

"Damn it..."

He quickly dried off and threw on his gym uniform, grabbed the plastic bottle, and headed back to Shiozaki's room.

* * *

Shiozaki sat at her desk browsing through the notes Bakugo had written for her. It was dull work. Feeling warm in the stifling afternoon heat, she tugged at her collar - and realised that her shirt was inside-out.

She blushed in embarrassment, feeling extremely thankful that Bakugo hadn't noticed before. Acting quickly to fix this before he came back, she stood up and took off her shirt.

At that moment, the door burst open.

"Oi, Angel, do you have any-"

She spun around, clutching her shirt to her chest. Bakugo was staring at her frozen in the doorway, his jaw twitching wordlessly as he began to blush like mad.

His vocal functions came back in full capacity a second later when Shiozaki flung the heavy textbook at his face.

"Son of a-!"

He staggered back out of the room as multiple vines flew forward, seized the door, and slammed it shut.

Bakugo stood up dizzily, clutching his aching nose. A few seconds later, Shiozaki wrenched the door open and glared at him, fully clothed and scowling. Her face was bright scarlet.

"What?" she demanded.

"As I was saying - do you have any stuff for _normal fucking hair_?!" Bakugo roared, shoving the bottle in her face.

Shiozaki looked at the plant spray, mortified, then quickly took the bottle and textbook out of his hands before hurrying down the hallway.

"I'll go and get some from my parents' room..."

* * *

Ten minutes later, Bakugo finally finished his shower and stepped out of the bathroom to find Shiozaki waiting for him in the hallway. She was standing with her arms folded and a scowl still on her face.

"Mom and Dad came back with lunch." she said testily. "They bought some for you, so come down and eat before we start."

Without another word, she turned and headed towards the stairs.

"Oi, you're not still mad, are you?" Bakugo called after her.

She ignored him and disappeared downstairs with a swish of her vines. Bakugo took a moment to curse under his breath, then he followed after her.

"I thought anger was a sin..."

* * *

Lunch was not an enjoyable experience for Bakugo. Aside from the fact that he now had to look at Saimei's annoying face again, Ibara was now refusing to speak to him or even look at him. She had a constant embarrassed face as she stared down at her food, which was doing no favours for Bakugo's look.

The result of this befell him with full force as Ibara's mother, a thin, bespectacled woman with vines on her head tied back in a ponytail and a darker shade than her children's, started glancing between the two of them with a concerned expression. Raising a hand to her mouth, she looked at Ibara and said, "Oh dear, I know that look. Is something the matter?"

Ibara glanced up coldly at Bakugo for the first time in five minutes.

"No, Mom. Everything's fine." she said after a second.

At the other end of the table, Saimei was talking to his father, who was tall with muscled arms and had a noticeably lined face even though he didn't appear all that old. He also had a green streak in his short black hair. He looked very suited to garden work.

Bakugo was just hoping they would ignore him for the rest of the meal when Ibara's father suddenly turned to him and said, "Hey kid, I don't mean to sound rude, but I feel like I've seen you before-"

"He's the one who beat everyone in the sports festival, Dad." Saimei said, leaning back in his chair and sipping his drink as he shot Bakugo a contemptuous stare. "You know, the one who beat up that girl-"

Bakugo turned and glared furiously at Saimei. "Look, you-"

He felt a sharp pain in his leg as Ibara kicked him under the table, and he desisted.

"-forget it. It's nothing." he spat.

As Saimei and his father returned to their conversation, Bakugo shot a glare across the table at Ibara. They made eye contact.

Frowning, he made a quick movement with his hands and shoulders to tell her, 'not my fault'.

A pleading look momentarily flashed across her tetchy face as she told him, 'just let him be'.

He scowled and swiftly drew his thumb across his neck. She glowered at him.

At this moment, her mother started looking at them weirdly again, so they went back to their food in silence.

* * *

Nothing much happened for the rest of the meal. After Bakugo and Ibara had finished eating, her mother offered to clear up after them, and the two of them went back upstairs.

As they climbed the stairs, Bakugo chanced another glance at her. She seemed a little less angry now - at least she didn't look like she wanted to kill him anymore. However, it was only when they had sat down at her desk that she finally said something.

"Um...sorry for getting mad just now." she muttered as she sat beside him, twiddling a pen as she stared down at her feet. "I...overreacted."

Bakugo looked sideways at her.

"Just don't bring that up ever again and we're fine." he said with a scowl. "I swear, that look you had on your face - I don't even want to know what your mother was thinking about me."

Shiozaki shifted guiltily in her seat. She opened her mouth to say something, but just awkwardly shut it after a few seconds.

Bakugo saw this, and an evil grin spread across his face.

"What, cat got your tongue? Or your nose?"

Shiozaki stared at him curiously for a second, then her face turned pale.

"You...you saw that...?" she said bleakly.

Bakugo let out a sharp laugh, and her cheeks turned bright red. She shoved him hard in the shoulder, though it was to little effect.

"You..utter...fiend!" she said, shoving him repeatedly between words.

He grabbed her arms and held her back.

"Oi, not my fault you can't hide things at least a little decently! Why do you even have those photos anyway?"

She glowered at him, her vines twitching again.

"Can we just get started already...?"

"Okay, fine." he said, still smirking as he let go of her. He opened up her textbook and flipped to the questions.

"Now show me how you do 3c."

* * *

**I know this chapter was a little filler-ish, I had different plans for it but I changed them at the last minute because it didn't feel right to use them at this juncture. Probably should've discussed it with my beta first but exams are a bitch.**


	7. Resentment

"Man, that training exercise was _brutal_!"

"Hm."

Bakugo and Kirishima took their usual seats at the cafeteria.

"You think the practical exam's gonna be that tough?"

"Yeah."

Kirishima took a large gulp of iced tea.

"You handed in that essay to Mr Aizawa yet?"

"Mm."

He started cutting up his pork cutlets.

"Which chapter are you on for chemistry?"

"Maybe."

Bakugo was only half-listening to him. He was mostly preoccupied with staring across the cafeteria at Shiozaki, who had just walked in with her classmate Jurota Shishida and was chatting with him rather enthusiastically.

Kirishima followed his gaze and grinned evilly.

"_Someone's_ jealous."

"Wha-? Hell no!" Bakugo snapped, his eyes darting back to him. "I was just wondering when I should next kick her ass!"

"Yeah, her ass aside - you said you were gonna help me study for the exams today, where are we going?"

"Haven't decided yet." Bakugo said simply as he picked up his chopsticks. "I'll let you know after English."

They spent the next few minutes eating and talking. Suddenly, a new text message popped up on Bakugo's cell phone beside them.

He glanced at the notification, but Kirishima was the first to read it as he leaned across the table and scanned his screen upside-down.

"Who's Angel?"

"Damn it, Shitty Hair!" Bakugo roared, snatching his phone out of Kirishima's sight. He had totally forgotten that he had exchanged numbers with Shiozaki just before leaving her house on Saturday.

Lifting up his phone to eye level to make sure Kirishima couldn't see his screen, he read the message.

"It's Vines." he said. "She wants to know if I can help her with revision again-"

"_Again_? Damn, you really _are_ kind on the inside-"

"That's not why I - oh, forget it." Bakugo said as he scrolled down. "She says she wants to go to that new cafe near the school."

"The one with the kickass coffee?" Kirishima said eagerly.

"Yeah, and the really cheap food that Raccoon Eyes keeps telling us to try..."

He looked over at Kirishima and their eyes locked.

"You want in?"

"Do you even need to ask?" Kirishima said eagerly. "Give me a time!"

"Today, right after class ends." Bakugo replied, texting the same thing to Shiozaki. "Bring all your physics crap. You said you were failing, right?"

* * *

After school, Shiozaki made her way to the cafe and stepped inside. The moment she entered, the sweet scent of cocoa and pine swept over her like a gust of heavenly wind. She made a mental note to come back and buy a drink on her own some time.

She spotted Bakugo and Kirishima sitting together at a table next to a window. Bakugo was running his fingers through his hair exasperatedly, reading Kirishima's solutions with a vexed expression.

"No, no...why the hell did you divide it? Take 'V1' minus 'V2'-"

"Hi, Bakugo." Shiozaki said as she walked up to them.

The second he heard her voice, Bakugo leaned back in his seat and exhaled audibly, clearly relieved.

"Hey, Angel." he said. "I'll deal with you in a minute, I've got to finish helping this idiot first." He sat back upright. "Go do your own work or whatever."

Shiozaki responded with a small nod, then sat down beside Kirishima and took her school things out of her bag. As she opened up her textbook, her eyes drifted off to the large drinks menu on display above the counter.

* * *

A few minutes passed before Bakugo finally finished teaching Kirishima, and he turned his attention to Shiozaki.

"Alright, show me what you've done."

Having barely written anything in the past ten minutes, she could only stare at him and mutter, "Um..."

She was saved from having to answer as Bakugo's phone chose to ring loudly at that exact second.

However, the moment Bakugo picked up the device and looked at the screen, she felt like she would rather have faced the consequences of answering him.

"Deku?! The hell is he calling me for?!" he yelled, glaring daggers at his phone like it had just burned down his house. Shiozaki was positively alarmed at the expression on his face, and she moved aside slightly to sit closer to Kirishima.

"Who's Deku?" she asked quietly.

"Midoriya." Kirishima said with his eyes fixed on his calculator. "Don't say anything."

Still staring murderously at his screen, Bakugo aggressively swiped his finger across the green call button and lifted up his phone.

"Deku, you little shit! What the fuck do you want from me?!"

"K-Kacchan?" Shiozaki heard a timid, surprised voice reply from the other end of the line. "Sorry! I think I called you by accident! I - I was trying to call Kaminari! I have your name saved right under his on my device, so..."

"I don't want to hear it, you useless fucking nerd!" Bakugo roared, now attracting several perturbed stares from around the cafe. "If you're not looking for me, then hang the hell up already!"

"R-right!"

There was a beep, and Midoriya ended the call. Bakugo slammed his phone back down on the table, breathing like he had just run a mile.

"That bastard drives me up the fucking wall!"

As the onlooking stares started to disperse, Kirishima eyed Bakugo with a discomfited expression.

"Geez, why don't you give the guy a break?" he said. "It was an honest mistake-"

"I don't care if it was a mistake, I can't stand the damn nerd!" Bakugo yelled. "And don't tell me I can't talk to him like that, it's nobody's business how I-"

"Really? Because I'm quite concerned."

Kirishima did not say those words. Bakugo looked to the side, and saw Shiozaki staring sharply at him with a steeled yet slightly intimidated expression, her knuckles white as she clenched her fists on the table.

"Damn it, Vines, not you too!"

"I'm sorry, but if we're going to continue with our...sparring arrangements, I want to know how you treat people when it's not just the two of us - for my own good. I don't know if you noticed, but Midoriya sounded really scared of you."

"Oh, so it's my job to know how his stupid nerd brain works now?" Bakugo spat. "So what if he's afraid of me?"

"That call wasn't normal."

"I missed the part where I care."

"I noticed he called you by a nickname? How long have you known each oth-"

"Shut up."

"Bakugo, I-"

_"Shut your mouth already, bitch!"_

Bakugo was on his feet, though he didn't remember standing up. His chest was heaving and his fists were clenched tightly enough to crush apples. He glared down at Shiozaki, his eyes like pinpoints and his lips barely more than a thin line.

He couldn't recall ever calling Shiozaki anything worse than an idiot before this point, yet he felt no remorse for his words. Shiozaki actually inched backwards in her seat a little, though her expression remained unchanged.

"Look." he snarled, his lips curling unnervingly like a wolf baring its fangs. "You can think whatever the _hell_ you want about me. You believe I burned Deku's pet rabbit alive when we were kids or something? Go ahead. Just don't fucking pry. Stay. Out. Of this."

Shiozaki looked like she was on the verge of shying away from his gaze. However, she stood her ground, and said, "Fine, how about this? Unless you tell me why you despise Midoriya so much, I'll stop showing up to our sparring matches. I can get what I want out of Midoriya anyway."

A murderous look flashed across Bakugo's eyes at her gall, and the veins in his fists rose up. He actually looked quite scary. Whatever mad surge of courage had allowed Shiozaki to say those things to him was quickly fading away, and she felt like she was shrinking. She remembered once when Shishida told her she was the type to get too carried away when she felt strongly about things. Perhaps she had crossed a line...

Suddenly, Bakugo sat back down, though he still looked terribly furious and was breathing heavily. He fixed his gaze onto the wall at the other end of the shop, away from both Shiozaki and Kirishima.

"Kirishima, get out of here." he demanded.

"Uh...hey man, calm down. We're still in school uniform-"

"Relax, I'm not going to do anything stupid." he said. "Just - leave for five minutes. Please."

"Oooookay, but just because you're being exceptionally polite right now and it's kind of freaking me out." Kirishima said as he slowly got up. "See you in five."

He left the table.

Shiozaki chanced a glance at Bakugo. He was still looking away from her, and he took a long draught of coffee before slamming his cup back down on the table.

"You want to know why I hate that fucker?"

* * *

Bakugo then launched into a ten-minute long rant about everything that made him detest Midoriya, throughout which Shiozaki said nothing but listened to him carefully. At the end of the ten minutes, Bakugo leaned back in his seat and looked away from Shiozaki again, his face red and scowling. He grabbed his coffee and took another long draught from it.

After a short silence, Shiozaki opened her mouth to speak, deciding to start with the most perplexing part.

"So...let me get this straight. Midoriya never manifested a Quirk until this year."

"Yeah. I still don't know how he pulled super-strength out of his ass."

"But he still wanted to be a hero."

"Yeah."

"He wanted to be like you. He looked up to you."

"Mm."

"And you treated him like trash."

"He _ is _ trash."

"And now that he's stronger than you, you think he should shrivel up and die because it isn't fair."

"Look, I-"

But Bakugo's voice abruptly vanished. He bit down hard on his lower lip.

"Okay, yeah, so I _have_ been a colossal ass to him." he said. "But guess what, I've known that all this time. I just don't care. If you think I'll stop wanting to kick his ass, you're living in your own damn world-"

"It's not right."

"I - don't - care."

"Bakugo, I really don't think you get to be mad at Midoriya for becoming stronger than you. In fact, I could call it divine justice-"

"Are you trying to piss me off?"

"If you go on treating him like you do now, then - I'm sorry, but I can't associate myself with you any longer."

Bakugo let out a cruel laugh. "And you think I need you around? For what?"

"Do you think I've never seen you smiling more around me? You prefer having me around than most people - right?"

A slight frown replaced his mocking leer.

Shiozaki leaned forward, clasping her hands together on the tabletop. "Bakugo, listen. The sin of wrath is a very powerful poison to the mind. Combined with that of envy, it can destroy everything good that someone can be, leaving them evil, depraved."

"Vines, I didn't ask for a fucking sermon-"

"I told you to listen." she said, shooting him a warning glare. "Look, I - I know how much being a hero means to you. You wouldn't have saved me against that man with the shadow Quirk otherwise, nor would you have been so adamant on doing something useful during your time with Best Jeanist. Just...just start acting more like one, okay?"

Bakugo's scowl widened. "If you expect me to go up to that annoying nerd and say sorry for all the crap between us in the past ten years, you can forget it."

"Of course. Some things can't be fixed overnight, and...well, you clearly don't feel that way yet, so forcing you won't help in the slightest."

She swallowed.

"But I'd like you to stop yelling at him at every waking moment you share. He doesn't deserve to be treated that way and I think it's time that changed."

Bakugo glared at her defiantly. He still didn't see why the fuck he should treat Midoriya better. Trash that was below him should stay below him. Including that stupid, worthless nerd, with his stupid, worthless power that he couldn't even use without breaking his bones once every two weeks...

...like he did to himself barely a week ago.

Over and over, week after week.

"Okay, fine!" he finally said, throwing his hands into the air. "I'll get off his ass if that'll make you shut up!"

He looked away again and took a very prolonged sip of coffee, his face red with anger.

"God, I hate that part of you." he said softly.

Shiozaki raised an eyebrow. "What?"

"How you keep convincing me to do shit." he grumbled. "Are you sure your Quirk isn't mind control?"

"If it were, I would've made you not say at least seven different things in the past month I've known you." Shiozaki said with a humoured grin.

Bakugo let out a short, sharp sound that could have been either a laugh or a growl as he rolled his eyes.

Shiozaki spoke again. "Just promise me you'll do as I asked-"

"Yeah, yeah, got it."

He drained the last few cold dregs of coffee.

"Where the hell is Shitty Hair...?" he muttered. "Get on with your work, I'm going to look for him."

He quickly stood up and left the table, walking at a very brisk pace.

God, he couldn't believe that had just happened. Even if he had different reasons for concurring to her request, he still found it mortifying that Shiozaki had successfully talked him into that decision.

He placed a hand over his eyes and groaned. He felt like she was driving him crazy.

* * *

**I've edited some of the things said during the argument, because considering some of the things Bakugo has thought, said, and done (AAAAAAAAAAAAAAAH) in the manga recently, my depiction of his views regarding Midoriya needs to change.**

**Thanks for reading, love y'all.**


	8. Sick of It

At the end of classes on Friday, Setsuna Tokage was the first to pack up and get ready to leave.

"So - Pony and I were going to check out that new burger joint at the mall today." she told the other girls with a sharp-toothed grin. "Anyone else wanna come?"

"Setsuna, I really think you should be spending this extra time studying." said Kendo. "The exams are only three weeks away, you know."

"_And_ I think it's going to rain." Reiko Yanagi said gloomily as she stared out of the window.

"Fine, then. Kodai, Komori, you in?"

The two shook their heads.

"Bummer. Shiozaki, please back us up."

"Sorry, I want to go home too." Shiozaki said apologetically. "Maybe after the written papers are over."

As Tokage let out an overly dramatic groan, Kendo grabbed her bag and walked up to Shiozaki.

"If you're leaving, I'll go with you." she said. "Front gate?"

* * *

Over at Class 1-A, several of the students were also getting ready to leave, while others were staying back and having a chat.

"...and that's actually also why I think the old controversy regarding Starstrike really shouldn't exist." Midoriya was rattling off to the extremely riveted Ashido and Uraraka. "There was no way she could have gotten out all the hostages in time, especially since her Quirk was ill-suited for the situation. But she had to give it a try anyway, since the attacks were carefully planned such that nobody else was available to help. It was already bad enough that the mental backlash she suffered affected her ability to use her Quirk, and yet on top of that..."

Sitting directly in front of the source of all the rambling and feeling like he was being exposed to auditory torture, Bakugo gripped his pen tightly and clenched his jaw, his entire body shaking with silent fury.

"Shut the hell up..." he muttered quietly as he stared down at his assessment book.

"Anyway, I've got to go. See you next week." Midoriya said as he got up from his desk. He grabbed his bag and his cup of green tea from the cafeteria, then took a few steps forward.

All of a sudden, he tripped clumsily over Bakugo's bag and stumbled, his arms flailing wildly as he cried out.

Bakugo just managed to snatch his book off his desk as Midoriya dropped his tea and splashed it all over his tabletop.

"Oh my gosh, I-I'm so sorry, Kacchan!" he stammered flusteredly as he bent down and picked up the dripping cup from the floor. "I didn't...I didn't see where I was going...! I'll clean that up for you if that's...okay...with you...?"

His voice trailed off as he looked up at Bakugo. He was glaring down at him with a spine-chilling look of utter incandescent rage - yet he was completely silent.

That was really strange. He seemed far more furious than he usually did when Midoriya did something he didn't like. Midoriya was positively surprised he had not started screaming at him to die or go to hell.

With a single loathsome scowl at his childhood friend, Bakugo stuffed his book into his bag, stood up, and swung his bag over his shoulder. Without looking at anyone, he stomped silently out of the classroom.

* * *

As Shiozaki and Kendo made their way across the school grounds, chatting and laughing, Kendo said something that surprised Shiozaki.

"I've noticed you've been doing a lot better in combat exercises lately - I assume you're getting help from a certain individual?"

Taken aback, Shiozaki blushed for a second before saying, "Yeah, Bakugo's definitely been a huge help to me. And especially after what happened during our internships...I really can't repay him enough."

"Wow, to think Setsuna is actually onto something..."

"Kendo, please-"

"I'm joking, relax." she said with a laugh. "Anyway, it's not like I expect you to open up to anyone anytime soon..."

A grimace appeared on Shiozaki's face, and Kendo stared at her puzzledly for a moment before realising her error.

"Oh. I - I'm so sorry." she said hastily, raising a hand to her mouth. "I know you said you had your reasons for not disclosing your...motivations. None of us hold it against you, seriously-"

"It's alright, Kendo." Shiozaki said, now smiling again. "Words are unpredictable tools that do not always convey their intended meaning."

"Um, right - well, see you next week." Kendo replied sheepishly as they exited the gate. There, the path split into two, with the main lane continuing down the road ahead and a smaller one that snaked off to the right.

The girls waved each other goodbye, and Kendo headed off on the smaller path as Shiozaki continued on the main road towards the train station.

She kept on walking until she was about ten minutes away. Then, without warning, the sky darkened rapidly. In the distance, a bolt of lightning cracked the air, and there was a massive roll of thunder like the roar of some enormous creature. A moment later, rain came crashing down in torrents. Heavy raindrops bombarded roads and roofs, trees swayed in the wind, and anyone still out on the streets frantically started running towards the nearest shelter, including Shiozaki.

She picked up her pace, dashing towards the station with her arms above her head, futilely trying to shield herself from the downpour.

She made it about eight steps before giving up and stopping. Ten minutes was just too far away. Her shoes kept slipping on the pavement, she didn't have a raincoat, and the rain had already soaked her hair, skin and clothes to the point where it would be ridiculous to go all the way.

She was just about to head back and hide under the nearby sheltered walkway when she heard someone call out for her over the clamour of the rain.

"Oi, Angel!"

She looked to the side. Bakugo was standing on the other side of the street under a dark blue umbrella, looking completely unbothered by the furious weather. He jerked his head sideways, indicating for her to come over.

Shiozaki instantly made a beeline towards him, trying not to slip and fall. A second later she ducked under her saviour's umbrella, gripping her arms tightly and shivering madly.

"Th-thanks..." she muttered, her teeth chattering as rainwater dripped from her vines. "This...this weather is unbelievable..."

"I thought plants needed to be watered."

Shiozaki shot him a scornful look. "Are you...ever _not_ insufferable?"

"Geez, take a joke." Bakugo said, staring straight ahead. "You going to the station? If it's anywhere else, get out from under here."

"Y-yes, I'm going to the station!" she said, still shivering. "Move aside, I'm g-getting splashed on."

Bakugo stepped sideways to give Shiozaki more space, and she instantly edged in towards the centre of the umbrella for as much cover as possible, nearly squeezing against him.

Shiozaki suddenly remembered the issue they had discussed earlier that week.

"Hey...Bakugo?" she said in a cautious tone, trying her hardest not to anger him. "How's things between you and Midoriya?"

For a moment, a conflicted look flashed across Bakugo's eyes. But he continued staring straight ahead and he said, "I did like you said, haven't said a thing to the damn nerd in a week. But don't think this means I forgive him. The next time I decide his head's getting too big for his shoulders, I _will_ kick his ass."

"That's funny coming from you. Maybe you should-"

"Oh, get off my case." Bakugo cut her off. "It's not like I feel sorry for anything I've done, I just thought I'd give him a break - since I've had a taste of how hard he's got it." he said, twitching his right arm.

"I - fine, have it your way." Shiozaki said, not feeling in the mood to argue. "And I didn't ask you to avoid talking to him completely, I just wanted you to stop bothering him."

"Those two things are mutually exclusive." he growled, still not as much as giving her a glance.

Shiozaki raised an eyebrow at him.

"Are you not going to look at me?"

"No."

"Even though I've been talking to you for the past three minutes?"

"No."

"Why not?"

"Because you're soaked and I can see through your shirt."

Shiozaki folded her arms over her chest and stopped talking for the rest of the walk.

* * *

As they arrived at the station and approached its sheltered entryway, Shiozaki immediately dashed out from under the umbrella into its warm confines, breathing hot air into her palms. Bakugo followed behind her, closing up his umbrella and forcefully flicking it to remove the rainwater.

"Th-thanks again." Shiozaki said as she turned to face him, a bit of rain still splattered on her face. "I suppose I'll see you next week..._ah-choo_!"

Bakugo's gaze narrowed.

"Oi, you alright?"

"Y-yes, I'm fine." she replied gingerly. "Just feeling a little...cold..._ah-chh_..."

Doubtful, he stepped forward and brushed aside her vines so that he could view her face more clearly. Her nose was red and slightly swollen, and her cheeks were almost equally red. Her eyelids were drooping, and her expression full of unease.

"Nah, you look like a total wreck." he said, taking a step back. "Go home and ask someone to get you some meds."

"Nobody's...home right now - _snff_ \- and...and I just remembered - I can't even get home anyway, there's no shelter from my stop to my - _ah-ch_ \- house..."

Bakugo groaned.

* * *

Fifteen minutes later he was shielding Shiozaki from the rain again as he walked beside her to her house. As they reached the front gate, Shiozaki hurriedly pulled out a set of keys from her pocket and unlocked it. She sneezed for what felt like the fiftieth time.

"You still alive?" Bakugo said.

"Barely." she croaked.

She pushed the gate open and they walked down the stone pathway amongst the soaked chrysanths and peonies. At the front door, Shiozaki unlocked it and quickly rushed inside.

"Go wash up and put on something thick." Bakugo said as he closed his umbrella, splattering the foyer with rainwater. "I don't know where your meds are at so you'll just have to do with hot water first."

Shiozaki nodded in assent and asked, "W-why are you - _snff_ \- doing this...?"

"Fuck if I know, maybe I've gone soft because of you. Now do you want my help or not?"

"Please."

"Then scram and go take a shower now."

She didn't need telling twice. Without another word, she turned around and dragged herself upstairs.

* * *

Shiozaki stepped out of the bathroom wearing a thick orange sweatshirt and black-and-white striped sweatpants. It wasn't the most flattering look, but she had been feeling like death for the past thirty minutes and only had enough energy to pick out the first set of warm clothes she could find.

She staggered back to her room, and when she opened the door, she saw Bakugo standing waiting with a glass of hot water in his hand.

She took the glass from him and drained it in one gulp. Warmth flowed down her throat and filled up her chest. As some of the frigid cold dispersed, she let her head hang forward in exhaustion.

Bakugo immediately detected that dandelion scent from her hair again. He quickly looked away. If he was close enough to smell that, he was probably close enough to catch whatever bug she was carrying.

"You guys have aspirin anywhere?" he asked, staring at her bookshelf.

"My...my parents keep all our medicine in the bottom right cabinet in the kitchen...but I'm not sure if we have c-cold meds."

"Give me a minute, I'll look." Bakugo said as he crossed over to the door. "Keep your shirt on."

A vine smacked him lightly on the back of his head as he left the room.

* * *

Bakugo entered the kitchen and knelt down in front of the bottom row of cabinets. He pulled open the one on the far right, and started to search inside...

Nope, nothing. All he found were cough drops, vitamin pills, a dusty bottle of antidepressants that looked like it hadn't been touched in over a year, and a pack of medicine for acne. He assumed those belonged to Ibara's brother, since her own face always looked pretty flawless...

Gah, did he seriously just think that? He sounded like Kaminari.

He stood up and kicked the cabinet shut, and instead started looking through the top row of cabinets. Chopping boards, frying pans, tea leaves...eventually, he found several cans of chicken soup from the supermarket.

He grabbed one of the cans and inspected it.

_This looks like the expensive shit...probably works._

He pulled out a bowl from another cabinet and peeled open the can. He then bent down and started looking at the symbols on the microwave, trying to figure out how to use them.

Suddenly, out of the corner of his eye, he saw several vines flying towards him.

With lightning fast reflexes he whirled around and seized the vines in his fist. Ibara's brother Saimei was standing in the entrance to the kitchen, wearing a drenched raincoat and looking at Bakugo with an outraged face.

"What are you doing here?!" he demanded, his vines writhing in Bakugo's grip.

"Gah!" Bakugo smacked his vines away furiously and said, "Your dear sister's sick and I somehow ended up taking care of her, alright?!"

"Sick?" Saimei repeated, his voice doing a complete turn from angry to worried. "How come? Where is she?"

"Up in her room! And in case you haven't noticed, it's been raining like a bitch for the past hour, so of course she caught a cold - now if you'll excuse me?!" he yelled, jerking his thumb towards the can of soup.

"Oh, let me do that, you'll burn down the house." Saimei snapped as he walked over and pressed several buttons on the microwave, then placed the soup inside.

"There, done." he said as the microwave lit up. "You can get out of here now, go."

"Nah, you guys are out of aspirin. You'd better run to the store and buy some for your dear sister, don't you think?"

"You do it yourself if you care so much."

"News flash, I don't live here and I don't know where all the shops are." Bakugo replied. "And I'd rather you do it _because_ _I don't fucking like you_." he added with a sneer.

Saimei's face turned bright red and he clenched his fist.

For a moment, Bakugo thought he was going to have to get ready for a fight. Then, still scowling at him, Saimei pulled on his hood and headed out towards the front door.

* * *

Bakugo went back upstairs to Ibara's room five minutes later, with the bowl of hot soup in his hands. He stopped at the door. This time, he made sure to knock loudly and clearly before entering.

He heard a muffled "Mmm." from the other side of the door, which he took as permission to go inside.

He opened the door. She was lying curled up like a cat on her bed, her face pale and a box of tissues placed beside her pillow.

"Sorry about my brother...again." she said hoarsely.

Bakugo raised an eyebrow. "You heard us?"

"Walls are thin. Did you find the pills?"

"You're all out, I told that lovely brother of yours to go buy some. You can settle for soup, right?"

"Mm."

With some effort, she sat upright, and Bakugo walked up to her and passed her the bowl. She took it in both hands gratefully. Her expression was weary, her vines drooping low over her face like limp threads.

Bakugo snickered at the sight of her.

She glanced up. "What?"

"You look like you're fucking wilting."

She frowned. "Or so I've been told."

She raised the bowl to her lips and drank. Her blocked nose felt slightly better and her head didn't hurt as much. She gave a weak smile. Being cared for like this while sick was one of the best feelings to her. She could kiss Bakugo right about now. Not that she would. For a plethora of reasons.

She drank the rest of the soup and set the bowl down on her drawer.

"Thanks, Bakugo...I really mean it." she said as she lay back down. "But can you do one last thing for me? Please?"

Bakugo's jaw twitched. "What?"

"I'm still feeling cold...there's a blanket at the bottom of the closet, could you-?"

He turned around and walked over to the closet. He pulled the doors open, and saw a lump of fabric lying at the bottom.

He pulled out the blanket and unfolded it with a flick. It was bright and pink and had patterns of rabbits and strawberries all over it.

"Angel...?" he said in a disparaging tone.

"I've had that since I was twelve, okay?" Shiozaki groaned from behind him.

Noting down the blanket as number two on his list of things he could use to embarrass Shiozaki if he wanted to, he walked back and tossed the blanket lazily onto her.

"Thanks." she said, grabbing it by the edge.

Bakugo looked out of the window. It was still raining heavily.

He walked over to his bag, which was sitting on the floor beside Shiozaki's desk, and pulled out his textbook. As he flipped it open he sat down on her chair.

Shiozaki heard the squeak of the chair and said, "You're not leaving?"

"It's freaking freezing outside, I'll leave later."

"You seemed fine when we were coming here."

"I hide my discomfort well."

She rustled slightly under the blanket.

"Is that why you put on that tough front all the time? Can't afford to look weak for a single moment? The infallible King Explosion Murder-"

"Do you want to die?" Bakugo glowered.

"I'm just saying - it must be tiring to act like that around other people all the time. Don't your classmates dislike that about you?"

"I don't need them to like me. I rely on myself."

"Even Kirishima?"

Bakugo hesitated for a second, then replied, "Special case."

"So he pities you, then. Got it."

He abruptly rushed over and pulled the blanket over her head, pinning her down and watching her struggle weakly underneath it.

"Shut up and sleep already, you glorified Caesar salad!" he said. "You want to get better or not?"

He spoke harshly, but Shiozaki was sure she heard the slightest hint of a laugh in his voice. She wrested the blanket out of his hands and went back to her original sleeping position, grinning to herself.

She heard him sitting back down and picking up his textbook. She shifted a little and began listening to the sound of the rain clattering against her window, only moving the occasional hand to clear her nose, and soon fell asleep.

* * *

Shiozaki awoke some time later, feeling a little less sick but with her throat noticeably dry. She sat up dazedly. Bakugo was gone. She looked to her right, and saw a tray on her drawer carrying a bottle of pills, a glass of water, and a custard bun from the pantry downstairs.

There was a note beside the tray. She picked it up and read it. The handwriting was extremely neat, but it did not belong to Saimei.

X x X

_Your brother told me to just bring you the meds and scram. I brought you extra because fuck him. Take two pills with food. See you at school, moron._

X x X

She set the note aside, drank some water, then took a large bite out of the bun. As the delightful sweetness spilled over her tongue, she found herself smiling serenely, though she had a vague feeling that there was a reason for that other than the taste of the custard.

* * *

**I was going to change the font of that note to make it look all nice and pretty, but CSS is Greek to me so that's a bust.**

**Also, Bakugo + sickfics is the greatest combination. That is all.**

**Thanks as usual, love all y'all. **


	9. Bad Blood

The days flew by, and the students of U.A. soon entered the final week of June.

Meaning there was only one week left until the exams.

The few students who hadn't been taking their studies seriously up till now (namely Ashido and Kaminari) had started forming study groups to do last-minute panic revision in, while those who were more concerned with the practical exam began visiting the training grounds after school more often to train.

Bakugo found himself staying back almost every day to tutor Kirishima and Shiozaki at the cafe near the school. He had no idea how it happened - all he knew was that Kirishima had somehow convinced him to help him revise a few days ago, and Shiozaki was there when they went to the cafe that day. Now, Bakugo was stuck trying to tutor one idiot who couldn't understand electric circuits and another who couldn't differentiate exponentials.

The three of them went to meet up one last time on Friday before the exams finally started. However, when they arrived at the cafe that afternoon, they were met with an obstacle.

Hanging on the glass door of the shop, through which the dark and abandoned-looking interior could be seen, was a wooden sign that read in large red characters, 'closed for renovation'.

"No. No, no, no, no, my coffee!" Kirishima moaned dramatically as he sank to his knees.

"Alright, good luck for Monday then." Bakugo said impassively as he turned to leave.

"Oh come on, don't be like that." Shiozaki said. "What about that last section you said you'd go through today?"

"Go see your notes, I rewrote them for you ages ago!" he snapped. "Now don't bother me until the practical exam is over!"

"Wait, Bakugo! Don't go!" Kirishima cried out, turning around and placing his hands together imploringly. "If you promise to help us, I'll give you half my snacks at the summer camp-"

Several passers-by turned to stare, and Bakugo felt his neck grow hot.

"Okay, okay, get up already!" he hissed. "You tell us where to go then, genius!"

Shiozaki placed a finger on her chin thoughtfully and said, "Well, I could see if my parents will let you two come over-"

"And have your brother yell at me a third time just for existing? Hard pass."

He turned and kicked aside a piece of gravel on the ground.

"You know what? I can't be bothered to waste my time travelling, so you two just come to my place tomorrow."

"Really? Sweet!" Kirishima said, grinning widely as he sprang to his feet. "Since this is the last time, are you going to go through everything again?"

"In your goddamn dreams! Just come over and ask me whatever crap you still don't understand, then I want you the hell out in three hours!"

"Bakugo, not so loud." Shiozaki whispered, grabbing his shoulder as a businessman passed by, shooting them a scathing look.

Bakugo ceased his shouting with a bitter scowl.

"You two just go home and do whatever you want today." he said, swinging his bag over his shoulder before he walked away. "I'll text you my address by tonight."

* * *

The next day, Shiozaki met Kirishima on the way to Bakugo's house, and the two of them headed up the street together to look for the address he had sent them.

A few minutes later, they found his residence, a remarkably large detached house equipped with a yellow brick exterior and a uniquely curved dark green roof. They stepped onto the walkway and approached the front door.

Reaching the doorstep, Shiozaki raised her hand to knock - but she suddenly stopped herself, a new uncertainty nagging at her.

What were Bakugo's parents like...? She normally never felt apprehensive when going to meet a friend's family, but when she considered Bakugo's hot-headed personality, she couldn't help but think - just what sort of people did he live with? It was said that the apple didn't fall far from the tree, so-

"What's the matter?" Kirishima asked, completely oblivious. "Shy?"

"N-no..." Shiozaki muttered.

With a rather unnecessary amount of effort, she forced her hand forward and gave the door three extremely fast taps.

She quickly stepped back and waited. A moment later, the door swung open with a bang, revealing a fair-skinned woman the splitting image of Katsuki glowering down at them with cold crimson eyes.

"Katsuki's friends?" she demanded.

Shiozaki and Kirishima nodded quietly.

The woman continued to glare at them coldly.

Then, her face lit up as she said, "Well then, come on in! It's really hot outside, I wouldn't want to keep you waiting!"

"Er...don't mind if we do!" Kirishima said eagerly as he stepped inside the house.

Shiozaki followed behind him, feeling relieved. That wasn't too bad, what had she even been worried for?

"Oi, Katsuki! You damn brat!" the woman suddenly roared in the direction of the stairs. "Your friends are already here, get your lazy ass out of bed and come greet them!"

_Oh._

"I was already awake, you crazy old hag!" came Katsuki's voice from upstairs along with the clamour of rushed, heavy footsteps. "I was just brushing my teeth!"

"It's almost four..." Kirishima muttered.

Katsuki appeared as a blur at the top of the stairs, rushing downstairs three steps at a time before he came to a halt at the bottom. His hair was highly disheveled, and he was wearing a black t-shirt that depicted a hand clutching a bright red grenade.

Not sparing as much as a glance for his mother, he walked up to Shiozaki and Kirishima.

"Alright idiots, come with me!"

Mitsuki suddenly smacked him upside the head with a shocking amount of force, much to Shiozaki's horror.

"Don't talk to our guests like that!" she snapped.

"I'll talk to them however I want, old hag!"

This earned him a second hard smack to his head. Mitsuki then turned to the other two with an amicable smile, like she hadn't just forcefully hammered her own son on the skull.

"Anyway, do you kids want anything to eat while you're here?" she asked brightly. "It won't take too long for me to prepare something."

"Er, no thanks..." Shiozaki replied, not taking her eyes off Mitsuki's shaking fist.

"Me neither, I just ate." said Kirishima.

"I'm not hungry and your cooking is ass."

"I wasn't asking you!"

Another smack.

"Argh, god damn it!" Katsuki roared, rubbing the back of his head. He turned to glare at the others again and snapped, "Come on in already!"

They reached the second floor and approached a room near the end of the hallway. Bakugo opened the door and hustled them inside. It was a simple study room, with a mahogany desk in the middle surrounded with several chairs. Bakugo's own books and writing materials were already on the table beside a small pad of lined paper. The three of them sat down around the table.

"Shitty Hair, I'm starting with you." Bakugo said as the others unpacked their bags. "Where'd I leave off with you?"

* * *

For the next two hours, Bakugo did whatever he could to help Kirishima with his grasp of physics, from sketching out diagrams and explaining formulae to whacking him over the head with his textbook whenever he got a question wrong - it was easy for Shiozaki to guess where he got that trait from.

Even so, Bakugo wouldn't have found the ordeal so infuriating if his mother hadn't kept coming in every few minutes to demand one thing or another from him.

"Katsuki, have you tidied up your room yet?" she asked, poking her head into the room for the fifth time.

Katsuki smashed his pencil onto the desk, breaking the tip.

"Damn it, woman! Leave us alone and go watch your volleyball games or something!"

"You don't get to tell me what to do in this house, you shitty brat!" Mitsuki yelled, her face quickly twisting into a scowl.

"Yeah, well I know you're going to do it anyway!"

"I'll be checking on you again!" she said threateningly before turning away.

However, just as she was about to leave, she whirled back around excitedly. She was looking straight at Shiozaki with a glint of fascination in her eyes.

"Hey girl, that bracelet looks amazing on you!" she said. "Where'd you get that?"

"Oh?" Shiozaki looked down at the thin, pearl-coloured bracelet on her wrist adorned with an identically coloured flower. "This was a Christmas gift, so I'm not sure where it came from..."

"Ah, that's a sucker." Mitsuki pouted. "I'd kill for one of those."

"Pining for your youthful days, old hag?" Katsuki said with a roll of his eyes.

Mitsuki placed her hand over her chest and said proudly, "I'll have you know that all my friends say I still look as young as ever-"

Katsuki made a loud gagging noise with his tongue and cut her off. With one last grimace at her son, Mitsuki left the room.

Katsuki grabbed a new pencil from his pencil case and scoffed. He never understood why his mother loved to obsess over useless things like bracelets and earrings. It wasn't like they magically made someone look better...

But then he looked at Shiozaki, and his first thought was that the flower bracelet really _did_ suit her - the pearl colour complimented her hair really well and made her look rather pretty...

Or did she always look like that...? Nah, no fucking way. Her hair seemed like a deeper shade of green than he remembered, maybe it changed colour with the seasons or something-

"Yo Bakugo, you there?"

"Huh?" Bakugo snapped out of his reverie. Kirishima was waving around a sheet of paper covered with his handwriting in front of his face.

"This is for the last question, can ya help me check it?" he asked with a grin. "Pretty sure I got it right this time."

"Ugh, let me see." Bakugo said as he snatched the paper from his hands and skimmed through it.

"Yeah, looks fine. I'm done with you." he said before tossing the script back to Kirishima and turning away. "Vines, what do you need?"

"Just this one bit, part d..."

* * *

At the end of the third hour, all three of them were done with their revision except for Shiozaki. As she mulled over one final question Bakugo had set for her, Kirishima packed up his belongings and got ready to leave.

"Thanks for everything, man!" he said, giving Bakugo a thumbs-up. "I'll be sure to ace this exam for you!"

"Oh, get going already."

Kirishima flashed him one last sharp-toothed grin and left the room. A minute later, Mitsuki stepped through the door.

"Oi, brat - hold on, where'd that kid with the shitty red hair go?"

"What do you want?" Katsuki groaned.

"Just came to say I made dinner for the three of you, you ungrateful little shit. But if one of you has left I'll save it for leftovers-"

"Get Dad to eat it, he'll be back before midnight, won't he?" Katsuki said angrily. "Who asked you to cook for them anyway?"

"Oh, it's no big deal, I can stay." Shiozaki cut in as she looked up. "It's only polite if she's already prepared it."

"Don't, you'll poison yourself."

"I can hear you from here, you know!" Mitsuki yelled. Her expression changed once more as she turned to Shiozaki with a warm smile. "You two come downstairs when you're done, alright?"

Shiozaki nodded once, and Mitsuki went back downstairs.

"_Please_ take your time." Katsuki groaned.

"I just need a moment...done." Shiozaki said as she quickly wrote a few short lines on the sheet of paper, then got up from the table. "Shall we go, then?"

"Don't regret it." Katsuki said grimly as he followed suit.

* * *

Shiozaki followed Katsuki down to the dining room, where Mitsuki was busying herself with the cutlery. On the table there were three empty glasses and a jug of iced water, along with three freshly prepared plates of...

"Pasta." Katsuki said in a voice that dripped with dread.

"It's been far too long since I last tried this recipe, feels good to be back at it again." Mitsuki said in an obliviously cheerful tone. "I even added my own little spin to it-" Katsuki visibly winced at this remark. "-so I'd like to know what the both of you think. Dig in!"

"Thank you!" Shiozaki said as she took her seat beside Katsuki. At once, she bowed her head and started praying.

Katsuki glanced over at his mother, who was standing on his other side. She was unsurprisingly giving Shiozaki a strange look.

"Yeah, she's from that type of family." he said in an undertone.

"I see..."

Suddenly, Mitsuki bent down and wrapped her arm firmly around Katsuki, her expression stern.

"Katsuki, since you're at that age, I might as well tell you now." she muttered. "Religious girls are extremely high-maintenance, so this one'll be a bit of extra work if you want to-"

"Are you seriously doing this right now?" Katsuki hissed through gritted teeth.

When Shiozaki finished saying grace, she picked up her fork and took a bite of the pasta. Her expression was unreadable as she chewed. Both Bakugos stared at her in anticipation, albeit with vastly differing levels of optimism.

She swallowed.

"I like it, it's really good." she finally said.

Mitsuki looked overjoyed. "Oh, I'm so glad there's someone who _finally_ appreciates my cooking!" she said cheerfully as she sat down in front of her own plate. "When Masaru gets back, I'm definitely going to make him have a taste..."

Doubtful, Katsuki picked up his own fork and quickly consumed one mouthful.

He nearly gagged.

* * *

"Angel, be straight with me." Bakugo said as he and Shiozaki went back upstairs after dinner. "How bad was it?"

"Well..." Shiozaki squirmed guiltily. "I will admit that I have had better. A _lot_ better."

"Heh, I thought you people weren't supposed to tell lies?" Bakugo remarked, his lips curling into a smirk.

"Oh, be quiet, you." she said, though she too broke into a tiny smile.

When they reached the top of the stairs, Bakugo turned and went in the opposite direction from the study room instead of going back with Shiozaki.

"Alright, pack your things and get out of here." he said with a jerk of his thumb over his shoulder. "I want my rest already."

Shiozaki nodded. "Thanks for everything."

Bakugo simply raised his hand in an indifferent gesture of farewell, then disappeared off into a nearby room.

Shiozaki headed back to the study and gathered her books, notes, and everything else she had brought along with her before placing them in her bag. She lifted it onto her shoulders, and turned towards the door.

_Crack. Boom._

She looked back out of the window. Bullet-like drops of rain were hammering on the glass in torrents, giving rise to a terrific clamour. Against the darkness outside, Shiozaki could make out the shapes of trees swaying in the wind, briefly illuminated by another flash of lightning a second later as thunder rolled in the distance.

She dropped her bag. There was no way she was stepping outside in this downpour. Not after the torture she had gone through two weeks ago.

She bit her lip and fiddled with her fingers as she considered her options. Finally, she decided to go and look for Bakugo.

Shiozaki left the room and headed down the hallway, passing by the staircase. She didn't actually see which room Bakugo had gone into earlier, yet she didn't need to, because the first door on her right had a sheet of paper taped to it with the words scrawled in ink, 'KEEP OUT OR DIE'.

She knocked thrice below the sign. A moment later, the door swung open to reveal an irritable-looking Bakugo, still wearing the black shirt with the red grenade.

"Um, Bakugo-"

"Yeah, yeah, I know. The weather hates us for some reason." he said tetchily. "I'm guessing you want to stay here till it dies down."

"Yes, but, er..." she raised a hand to the back of her head. "...it looks like I'll be here for a while, and I don't really have anything to do..."

"Can't you just study?"

"I really don't want to." she said awkwardly.

Bakugo considered her for a second.

"Come inside." he said. "I'll put on a movie."

"I - really?" she asked, surprised by this uncharacteristic show of hospitality.

"I was going to do it myself, but I guess that gets boring after the first fifty times." he said with a roll of his eyes. "Leave your bag outside."

"Wow - thanks." she said as she placed her bag down beside the doorway and made to enter his room.

"Wait."

Bakugo suddenly shut the door in her face. For a few seconds, Shiozaki heard several noises from inside like objects being rearranged.

He opened the door again, his cheeks visibly pink.

"Okay, come in." he said. "I'm going to get the laptop."

Shiozaki stepped forward and entered as he walked out into the hallway.

The first thing Shiozaki noticed was that his room was surprisingly well-organised. All his schoolwork and notes were kept in binders on his shelf, each one labelled by subject. There were even plenty of spare unused files lying on the bottom of his shelf. The upper row of the shelf was crammed full of accolades for academics and other fields - she was quite sure she noticed an award for rock climbing. She could see the notes and papers he had used in tutoring her and Kirishima earlier that day lying on his desk in a neat stack.

She supposed she should not have been surprised to see all this, considering how Bakugo seemed to excel in everything else he did. Yet for some reason it didn't look anything like the room she imagined Bakugo would have. The only things in the room that spoke of the brash, hot-blooded personality she knew so well were the well-worn dartboard above his desk and the vast poster behind his bed designed like weathered parchment and embellished with several weapons, including a submachine gun, a grenade, two crossed axes and a knife.

At that moment, she was overcome by a sudden vindictive urge to inspect the room for whatever it was that he was trying to hide from her earlier. She smirked shrewdly as her eyes darted to and from every suspicious corner she could see. Normally she would have felt guilty doing something like this, but after the stunt he had pulled at her house all those days ago, she felt like it was only fair game.

After a minute, she saw it. Several cardboard boxes, of the type that was typically used to store printing paper, were placed overturned on the last three layers of his shelf.

Her smirk widened. Listening out carefully for any approaching footsteps, she crept towards the shelf and lifted up the first box.

All Might figurines.

She had to stifle a laugh as she stared in incredulity at her find. There weren't just several, but lots of them, ranging from less than five centimetres in height to tall enough to reach her knees, all of them depicting the powerful hero in a multitude of costumes. She quickly replaced the box and started looking under the rest. They all housed the same thing. She even thought she recognised a limited edition figure.

She clasped her palm over her grinning mouth as she stood back up. She felt bad for laughing, but she just found it far too amusing to imagine the vicious, sneering Bakugo collecting merchandise of his idol like the most diehard of fans.

At that moment, she heard footsteps approaching. Bakugo returned to the room with a slightly old-looking laptop clutched under his arm.

"Alright, I'm ba - what are you laughing at?" he asked, his eyes narrowing suspiciously.

"N-nothing." Shiozaki giggled, failing to straighten her face.

Bakugo's eyes remained fixed on her for several more seconds. His gaze briefly darted towards the overturned boxes, but he didn't say anything as he walked over to his desk, placed down the laptop and powered it on.

He then walked over to his bed, crouched down, and pulled out a box of DVDs from under it.

"Alright, what do you like?" he asked as he scrupulously browsed through his collection.

"Well, I'm not big on movies..."

"Just pick something."

Shiozaki pondered on it for a moment.

"I would say romance, but I'd sooner expect you to join a convent than to tell me you have something like that in that box."

"And you'd be right. How are you with fantasy violence?"

"Um..." she frowned slightly. "...I don't think I've ever watched anything with that."

"Oh, you're missing out." Bakugo said with a grin. "Alright, let's watch this one."

He pulled out one of the DVDs. Shiozaki bent down to look at it. The cover art depicted a shadowed, hooded figure with slanted red eyes and crimson feathery wings, his body wrapped in chains.

"_Hand of Darkness_?" she read the title.

"It's about a man who was killed and sent to hell for his sins, then the devil gave him powers and a chance to return to Earth in exchange for bringing him the man who killed him."

Shiozaki's face darkened.

"I don't think I'll enjoy that very much." she said. "It glorifies something which I really think shouldn't be made light of-"

"In the sequel he discovers his powers have holy origins and he teams up with three angels to stop a cult from opening a gateway from hell to Earth."

"Sounds riveting. I'm sold." she said, her expression quickly lightening. "But I assume you'll want me to watch the first one first."

"Yep. Get comfortable."

Shiozaki sat down on the edge of his bed, right beside his desk. Bakugo took out the disc from its case, placed it in the laptop's drive, then flung himself down on his chair next to her.

As the title card flashed across the screen, grand orchestral music echoed from the speakers, mixing in with the roar of rain on the windows.

"Oh yeah, one more thing." said Bakugo.

Shiozaki glanced at him. "Yes?"

An evil smirk spread across his face.

"Try not to scream."

* * *

**Besides the usual title, I included four musical references throughout this chapter - I wonder if anyone spotted them.**

**Thanks for reading, loves. 3**


	10. Under a Nightmare

_"Grrrrrngh...have...mercy..."_

_"Sorry, all out of mercy."_

The winged man gave his fiery chains an almighty pull. With a terrible scream, the gangster trapped inside their coils was ripped in half as the chains tore right through his torso.

"Oh!"

Bakugo and Shiozaki both cried out at the same time, but Bakugo did it in an enthralled cheer, pumping his fist into the air, while Shiozaki yelled out with a look of horror and a dreadful flinch.

"Is that...is that even physically possible...?" she asked weakly, raising a hand to her mouth.

"It's a freaking movie, don't think so hard about it!" Bakugo replied, his eyes fixed on the carnage on the screen like it was the most glorious thing in existence.

The nameless gangster was just one of many deaths depicted in the film. Shiozaki was mostly silent as she watched the protagonist sever the heads and limbs off violent criminals, resisting the urge to scream so that she could avoid Bakugo's ridicule. At most, there was a sharp intake of air from her during some of the more violent deaths. It was only when the demons started appearing that she started getting more vocal.

"Why are there demons now? I thought he was just looking for a normal man. How do they know his name? Are they being sent after him?" she asked relentlessly.

"You know, when the old hag's watching a TV show with my dad and he starts asking a shit-load of questions, she makes him sleep on the couch." Bakugo said, frowning. "Just watch the damn movie and you'll find out."

"Sorry. I just wanted a bit of a distraction." Shiozaki said, moving to sit further away from the laptop. "These things are a lot scarier than the street thugs."

Bakugo let out an amused scoff.

"I'm serious! How do they make them look so real?!"

Suddenly, a water demon lunged out of a lake at the camera with a gargled scream.

"Eek!"

Abandoning all restraint, Shiozaki grabbed Bakugo by the arm and pressed her face against him, her nails digging into his sleeve.

Looking down at her shaking figure, Bakugo felt a small ounce of pity.

"Hey, if it's that scary I can put on something else."

"No, don't." Shiozaki said, slowly shifting her gaze back to the screen. "I - I want to see how it ends."

"Look at the freaking screen, then." he said, shaking her hands off of him.

"W-wait."

She grabbed his arm again and moved closer to him. She grasped his arm firmly but not forcefully, eyeing the screen tentatively like a young child seeking protection.

Bakugo looked at her for a moment before turning his attention back to the movie. Rain pelted against the windows vigorously.

* * *

As the movie progressed into its next act, the acts of violence decreased in frequency, though this made the film far more suspenseful since there was no way to predict when the next horrific brawl was about to happen.

Bakugo could tell when Shiozaki was expecting another bloodbath, because her hands would tighten up around his arm and she would sit up rigidly.

After a few occurrences of this, Bakugo began telling her "Relax." or "Get ready." whenever her predictions turned out to be wrong.

"Brace yourself." he said midway through the protagonist's conversation with a priest in an empty church.

"I didn't know you cared." Shiozaki muttered, tightening her grip on him as a winged demon crashed through the multicoloured glass windows with a shriek.

"Nah, you're just hurting my arm."

Shiozaki frowned as she let go of him slightly. "Am I that bad at this?"

"Are you serious? Thirty minutes ago you looked like you were going to have a heart attack - oh yeah, heads up."

"Hm?"

The priest suddenly fired a shotgun round into the demon's head, making it explode and sending blood everywhere.

"Gah!"

She pressed her head to his shoulder again, seizing his arm like a lifeline in rapids.

"Ow, ow, ow! Damn it, Vines!"

"S-sorry!"

* * *

The film neared its conclusion with the protagonist's final encounter with his nemesis, who like him had a demonic ability that allowed him to manipulate darkness. Following a violent clash between flame and shadow, the protagonist finally succeeded in killing his enemy.

His contract now completed, the wings and chains burned off his body as humanity was restored to him. There was an ending shot of him riding off on a motorbike to start a new life, and the film faded to black.

Still clinging to Bakugo's arm, Shiozaki asked tentatively, "Is it over?"

"Yeah."

She finally released her grip on him. Closing her eyes, she let out an exhausted sigh.

"I am never watching that again." she muttered.

"Oh, please. You can't tell me that wasn't freaking awesome."

"Well...I liked the part where he returned to his old hometown to protect his son, that was really touching." she admitted. "And what the priest said about redemption definitely made me think - but those demons were terrifying!" she said with a shudder. "The final enemy was the scariest!"

"Seriously? He was by far the most tame."

"To you, maybe." Shiozaki said. "I've had enough of this series for a lifetime."

"Aw, come on, you'll love the second one!"

"I'll take your word for it." she said darkly.

Thunder rolled in the distance as the rain continued to drone on. Bakugo looked outside. The storm had barely subsided - if anything, it would be even worse to go out now that night had fallen and the streets were an inch deep in icy cold water.

"Guess you'll be stuck here a while longer." he said with a frown. He grabbed his cell phone from his desk. "Let me see when it'll stop."

He flicked on the power and swiped across his screen a few times. He then stared silently at his phone, his frown deepening.

"1:44 AM. Fantastic." he said, tossing his phone carelessly back onto the desk. "Can you call someone to pick you up?"

"Er...my parents are busy tonight." Shiozaki said abashedly. "And I messaged Sai an hour ago, but he never replied. I think he's sleeping."

Bakugo let out an annoyed groan. For a moment he looked hesitant, then he said unenthusiastically, "Fine, I'll let you stay the night."

"Oh...I really don't want to take advantage of your hospitality any further-"

"Do you have a choice?"

"No."

Bakugo got up from his chair and crossed over to the door. Sticking his head outside, he yelled in the direction of the stairs, "Oi, old hag! The girl's staying over tonight!"

Mitsuki's voice echoed from downstairs, "Just don't have sex up there."

Bakugo's face started to burn spectacularly as his mother's remark hit him with all the blunt force of a sledgehammer.

"What the fuck is wrong with you?!" he roared.

His face red, he glanced back at Shiozaki, almost not daring to look at her. She was staring rigidly at her phone, her expression nonchalant, but her bright scarlet cheeks were proof that she had heard Mitsuki's comment.

"I've...left my parents a text saying I'll go home tomorrow." she said without looking up. "I don't wish to burden you any longer, so I'm going to sleep now. Is it okay if I take the couch?"

"Don't, the old hag hasn't cleaned it since New Year's."

Without thinking, his eyes drifted towards his soft bed in the centre of the room with its freshly changed sheets, then to a small, stiff red futon in the corner. He looked back at Shiozaki. They understood each other without exchanging a word.

Bakugo grabbed a hundred-yen coin lying on his dresser.

"Call it."

"Tails."

He flipped the coin.

* * *

"Damn you." Bakugo said as he lay on the futon, his arms folded with one leg crossed over the other. "Go get the lights."

Shiozaki felt a little bad for him, but nevertheless walked over and flipped the light switch. As the room sank into darkness, she removed the pair of vines around her head and wrapped them around her wrist. She went back to Bakugo's bed and lay down a little awkwardly, gazing out of the glistening, rain-flecked window at the glowing amber streetlights.

She heard no sounds other than the endless hissing of the rain and a few quiet murmurs of "Damn Deku..." from beside her. After a while, her eyelids began to feel heavy, and she fell asleep to the faint scent of burning sugar coming off the pillow.

* * *

_Help...someone please..._

_Mom...Dad..._

_I don't want to..._

Shiozaki sat bolt upright with a terrible gasp. She stared wildly into the darkness, her breathing out of control and her heart hammering against her chest. Her eyes were wide and fearful as beads of sweat ran down her forehead. Her thoughts a noisy, scrambled mess, she needed a minute to remember where she was.

Once she had calmed down a bit, she leaned forward wearily and gripped her hands together. Breathing in slow, trembling fits, she whispered silent prayers to try and regain her composure.

Why on earth had she had that dream again...? It had been well over a year since the last time - she thought it wouldn't ever happen again. Feelings of weakness and shame were starting to eclipse her fear. To have another nightmare after so long...

She heard a muffled stirring somewhere in the corner.

"Gah...what's going on?" Bakugo asked as he sat upright.

Shiozaki gulped.

"J-just..." It was a while before she managed to utter, "...Bad dream."

"Was it really that hard to watch?"

"What?"

"The movie."

A bit of the tension left her body. Right - that was probably why she had that dream. The movie.

"S-so what if it was...?" she muttered.

Bakugo snickered. "You see a water demon chasing you through a graveyard or something?"

"It's not funny!" she said hotly.

"Okay, geez." he said, sounding taken aback by her tone. "If that's all, then go back to sleep already."

Shiozaki wanted to tell him it wasn't that simple, but that would mean telling him the one thing she didn't want him to know about. Lying back down, she shut her eyes tight and tried to forget about her dream.

However, that proved impossible. The nightmare was rooted firmly in her mind like some sort of sickening parasite, feeding off her discomfort and keeping her awake. It was nowhere near as bad as two years ago, but she still felt terribly restless. It didn't help that the night felt just as dark as it did back then.

She tossed and turned for a while, but eventually conceded that sleep was out of her reach. Even the darkness was starting to feel increasingly ominous.

Falling back on her last resort, Shiozaki turned to look at Bakugo. He looked remarkably calm and peaceful as he slept, something which was about as rare as warm ice. She felt almost bad for doing this.

"Bakugo?" she called out.

He sat up again with a drowsy groan. "What the hell is it now...?"

"Can you stay up here with me?"

Dead silence. A faulty streetlight flickered in the distance, illuminating Bakugo's expression of utter incredulity.

"Angel, tell me I didn't hear that correctly."

Shiozaki didn't answer.

He pinched the bridge of his nose. "Oh my God."

"I...really shouldn't be allowing this." she said croakily, thankful for the darkness that was obscuring her blushing face. "But I seriously don't think I can sleep unless you..."

Her voice trailed off.

"How old are you, seven?" Bakugo scoffed.

_"I'm serious."_

Bakugo remained firmly in place for a moment, then said resignedly, "Fine, my neck's killing me anyway. Move over."

He stood up, and Shiozaki shifted aside to give him space. He climbed into bed next to her. Wanting to preserve at least some of his dignity, he faced away from her and stayed as close to the edge as possible. However, the bed was small for two people, and he could still feel their feet touching as well as her vines prickling his back slightly.

"Happy now?" he grunted.

"Thanks."

Shiozaki closed her eyes and tried to go back to sleep. She found it significantly easier with someone else beside her. Her fears weren't completely assuaged, but at least the dark didn't feel so intimidating anymore.

The night was cold. She inched closer to Bakugo to try and feel some of his heat. She felt him tense up beside her, but he otherwise didn't object.

After a few minutes, she drifted off to sleep.

* * *

Shiozaki awoke to the pleasant smell of burning sugar. She smiled serenely to herself, feeling reluctant to open her eyes. She instead pressed her face closer against the warm surface that laid beside her, relaxing in its comfort.

It was a while before she realised she was holding on to someone.

Her eyes sprang open, and she saw the black t-shirt with the red grenade.

Feeling like a million jolts of electricity had been sent up to her brain to wake her, her gaze darted up to Bakugo's sleeping face, his eyes still peacefully closed and his mouth hanging open by a sliver. Their arms were wrapped around each other in a scene reminiscent of Tokage's _shojo_ novels.

Before she could stop herself, she let out a small squeak of distress.

Bakugo's eyes flew open at the noise, like a dragon roused from slumber by the footsteps of a thief.

He looked down and their eyes met.

"Son of a-!"

They immediately pulled away from each other, putting as much distance between them as possible. Shiozaki almost fell off the bed.

They stared at each other in utter embarrassment for a moment, their faces red and their hearts beating rapidly. Neither of them seemed to know what to say. Then, Bakugo slowly raised a finger.

"We...will _not_ speak of this." he said pointedly.

"Of...of course."

Shiozaki looked away from him, feeling utterly mortified. Still, it was better than losing sleep over her nightmare...

Oh God, the nightmare - she suddenly felt her throat clench up. What if this incident caused her to have the same problems she had to face two years ago...?

Anxiously, she raised some of her vines in front of her face. She inspected them carefully as she twisted them around, adjusted their lengths, and coiled them into various shapes.

She let out a relieved sigh. Everything seemed fine. Nothing to worry about...

"What are you doing?"

She glanced back at Bakugo. He was staring across the bed at her with a perplexed look.

"N-nothing." She hastily let her vines fall back down.

Avoiding his gaze again, she got off the edge of the bed and muttered, "I should get going now. See you tomorrow."

"Go ahead."

Shiozaki took the band of vines off her wrist and placed it back on her head. As she crossed over to the door, she yawned widely, causing the vines to slip over her left eye. She had just placed her hand on the door handle when she heard a distinct snickering behind her.

She glanced back over her shoulder at Bakugo. He was staring firmly out of the window, trying in vain to suppress a grin.

"What?" she demanded.

"Nothing. You just look hilarious when you're sleepy."

Shiozaki rolled her eyes. "Good luck for the exams."

She stepped out of his room, picking up her bag as she entered the hallway. She swiftly headed downstairs, trying her best not to think about how much she had enjoyed waking up just now.

* * *

**#ThereWasOnlyOneBed. Also, nitroglycerin apparently smells like burning sugar.**

**As for the musical references last chapter: The hand and grenade were from American Idiot (Green Day), the DVD cover art was a fusion of the mascot of Disturbed and the angel on the cover of Rise and Fall, Rage and Grace (The Offspring), and the poster with weapons behind the bed was from Conventional Weapons (My Chemical Romance).**

**Also, to my real-life friends who discovered my account two weeks ago, if you're reading this...hi, jackasses.**

**Thanks for reading as usual. 3**


	11. Fight Like a Girl

Shiozaki laced up her black knee-high boots and threw on her flowing white robe. She straightened the crown of vines on her head and took a final drink of water. Clasping her hands together, she whispered a quick prayer, then followed the other girls out of the changing room.

She bore a determined but anxious gaze in her eyes as she walked, her breathing slow and manual, her fists clenched tightly enough to crush apples. The air around her was thick with trepidation - even Tokage had stopped cracking jokes.

The girls crossed paths with the boys in the corridor, and together, they headed down to the exit to start their final exams.

They stepped out into the courtyard so that they could receive their instructions from Vlad King. However, upon entering, they found him and eight other teachers standing in wait, including the small furry principal.

"Uh...why are so many of our teachers here?" Shihai Kuroiro asked as he frowned, a bead of sweat rolling down his dark face.

"Maybe they're supposed to be our invigilators." Kendo said, though she looked doubtful.

"Nine of them just for that?" Tokage said sceptically. "This doesn't feel right..."

* * *

"...All of your pairings, as well as which teacher you'll be fighting against, has already been decided." Vlad King declared. "I will now list out your matchups."

Her face pale, Shiozaki glanced around at the rest of her class. She was not surprised to see perturbed looks on many of their faces. Their teachers had taught them everything they knew - defeating them was an extremely tall order.

Some of her classmates clearly felt more nervous than others.

"Twenty of us, that makes ten teachers..." she heard Juzo Honenuki saying.

Suddenly, Honenuki staggered backwards, waving his hands around wildly as though trying to ward off a rabid beast. Even through his helmet, Shiozaki could practically see the sheer panic on his face.

"W-wait!" he spluttered. "Does that mean two of us are going to have to fight...A-A-All Mi-"

"No, All Might unfortunately declined to test a pair from our class." Vlad King said in a tone so sombre that the students might have thought someone had died. "Something about needing all his strength to test two kids from Class A."

He then added in a whisper that carried throughout the crowd, "Favouritism."

A few of the students muttered their agreement with their teacher's grievances, but Shiozaki didn't envy whoever it was that had the misfortune of attracting All Might's personal attention. She said a silent prayer that went out to them.

"Then...who's our tenth opponent?" Yosetsu Awase asked.

Suddenly, a black blur dropped down to the ground seemingly out of nowhere, two grey scarf trails floating down behind him.

Shota Aizawa stood up and glared at the class over his shoulder.

"Me."

A freezing chill ran down twenty spines at his intimidating gaze.

"How unlike you to be this tardy, Eraser." Vlad King said disparagingly. "Now, as I was saying before the interruption, these are your matchups."

* * *

Two by two, the students' names were called out along with the teacher they were going to fight. Tetsutetsu and Sen Kaibara were pitted against Cementoss. Kuroiro and Komori were assigned to Thirteen. Manga Fukidashi and Hiryu Rin were facing Midnight.

"Shiozaki and Monoma, Eraser Head."

Aizawa's gaze instantly darted over to Shiozaki. Even though it wasn't a particularly intimidating look, she still felt like those cold, lifeless eyes were piercing right through her.

He stepped forward, approaching her and her teammate.

"Ibara Shiozaki, Neito Monoma - is that right?" he said, loosening his scarf with a tug of his hand. "I've seen your progress reports from Vlad King. The two of you are highly proficient with your Quirks. Proficient - but reliant. Against me, you'll find that you have little opportunity to exploit your abilities as you please. So if you want to pass, come at me rationally and prove that you're not just one-trick ponies."

Shiozaki found herself frozen under his cold stare. Her throat felt like dry rock and she couldn't move a finger. This had to be the worst luck she had this year - to be pitted against the one teacher she knew almost nothing about...on top of that, how on earth were she and Monoma supposed to defeat a foe who could effortlessly shut down their Quirks on a whim?

_No, I can't think like that,_ she told herself firmly. Fighting against the feeling of paralysis in her fingers, she slowly curled her hands into fists. She could win this - she _had_ to win this. If not, all those sparring sessions with Bakugo might as well have amounted to nothing...

She glanced over at Monoma, expecting to see him looking at least a little nervous. However, he was returning Aizawa's gaze with his usual look of smug arrogance. Shiozaki couldn't decide if this made her feel relieved or more worried.

The sound of Vlad King's clipboard snapping shut told her that he had just finished announcing the final group of combatants.

"Alright, that covers everything." he said loudly. "The school buses will now take you to your respective test venues. Hurry up and get on, time is short."

* * *

One brief bus ride later, Shiozaki and Monoma were rushing through their examination site, a disused cargo holding facility. The vast area was cordoned off by tall steel fences, the entire landscape painted a dreary industrial grey. They ran past dusty crates and barrels in labyrinthine alleys made from stacked steel containers, their feet pounding noisily on the occasional manhole cover, massive cranes towering high above their heads.

"Monoma." Shiozaki said as they ran. "You know why we were assigned to this site, don't you?"

"I am well aware." Monoma said, his smile now significantly less arrogant. "We're practically going through a maze - we have no way to escape if Mr Aizawa corners us, and since he knew the layout of this stage, he can easily spot us before we spot him. This test is forcing us to face him head-on."

"Then you must know that we'll definitely be forced to fight him without our Quirks at some point. Be prepared to switch to hand-to-hand combat tactics at the first sign of him."

"I shall keep that in mind. But still, it would be preferable if we could use our Quirks freely. That _is_ why I came up with our plan, after all."

"That's great and all, but..."

Shiozaki's voice trailed off, a troubled look on her face. Monoma glanced at her with a raised eyebrow.

"Yes?"

"Will he really fall for something like that...?"

"What? I haven't the slightest idea what you're talking about!" Monoma roared, rearing his head and laughing like a hyena. "My plan is _completely_ foolproof!"

After a while, his laughter died down and he wiped a tear from his eye.

"Still, for our scheme to succeed, we will first have to scout out Mr Aizawa." he said. "A height advantage should do the trick. Shiozaki, if you would please-?"

"Of course."

At once, she crouched down, preparing to use her vines to scale the surrounding crates.

Suddenly, her face went pale.

"Um...Monoma?"

"Yes?"

"My vines...won't move."

They heard a cold, harsh voice from up above.

"If you expect me to be passive and hide away when I'm testing students, it's no wonder my class is doing better than yours."

They both looked up in horror. Aizawa was hanging upside-down from the nearest crane using his scarf, his hair billowing in the windless air. His eyes were fixed unmovingly on Shiozaki, given away by the eerie red glow behind his goggles.

Monoma stared up at him blankly.

"Ah."

Suddenly, he turned and bolted off towards one of the gaps between the steel crates.

"Well, it looks like we must improvise!" he squeaked. "Shiozaki, your role remains the same! Distract him!"

"Wait, Monoma! Don't leave...me..."

But he was gone.

Her face darkened like a stormcloud. "Iscariot."

"Your next mistake would be not giving me your fullest attention when you've already been caught off guard."

Aizawa leapt down from the crane and flung two strands of binding cloth at Shiozaki, darting towards her like sleek grey arrows. She flung herself aside and dodged, and a second later she heard Aizawa's feet hit the floor. Whirling back around, she just barely glimpsed his hand slashing through the air at her.

Aizawa moved in on her with strike after strike, his limbs cutting the air with the agility of a dancer but the ferocity of lions, his scarf whirling around him like a tornado. Shiozaki was powerless to do anything except cower behind blocks and guards. She willed her vines to move, but it was like they were withered, dead.

Eventually, Aizawa broke through her guard. A series of concentrated blows struck her in multiple places, and she fell to the floor, stunned and gasping. As her surroundings swam before her, she watched Aizawa pull out a vial of eye drops from his utility belt and put some in his eyes.

"Now, time to deal with your friend..."

Behind him, a manhole cover rattled. Shiozaki turned rigidly still, watching with bated breath as a pair of eyes framed by short blond hair peered out from the crevice. Monoma reached out to Aizawa's leg, his eyes possessed, his fingers stretched taut...

Aizawa's foot suddenly came slamming down on his hand.

"Gah!"

"Please, an attack from behind couldn't have been more predictable."

Without as much as a glance over his shoulder, Aizawa threw his scarf around Monoma. He flung him out of the sewer and across the lane into a massive steel container, making him yell out in pain. He fell to the floor, his body still bound in the scarf.

"Monoma!"

Shiozaki scrambled to her feet and rushed towards her teammate, reaching out to free him...

A second coil of scarf seized her outstretched arm. Aizawa pulled his weapon like a pair of reins and Shiozaki turned back around. He leapt towards her. She dived sideways, and the cloth loosened from her arm. She darted into a gap between the steel containers. Aizawa gave chase. As she emerged onto the neighbouring alley, a swirl of cloth snagged her by the ankle and she fell face-first into the concrete.

Groaning, she forced herself weakly to her feet, stars blinking in her eyes and a throbbing in her nose. She glanced hazily across the lane at Aizawa. He was standing with his body at an angle to hers and one hand raised like a martial arts master. His gaze narrowed as their eyes met, as though goading her to attack him.

Shiozaki compelled herself not to fall for his taunt. Breathing slowly and deeply, she gave her body time to recover as she considered her best way forward. She was going to have to face Aizawa head on - there was no way around that. But it was also impossible for her to defeat him one on one - unless she could take him by surprise...

Her mind working rapidly, she tried to recall everything she had learned from Bakugo during their skirmishes in Training Ground Beta. All those snide remarks she had endured while getting beaten to the ground over and over - the time to use them was now.

_Lord, please let me win._

Clenching her fists, she started to walk forward. Her walk turned into a run as she charged at Aizawa, her fist raised and ready to throw him a right hook. Aizawa moved his arm to protect himself - changing course, she dived down and kicked him in the knee.

"Ugh-!"

His balance broken, he staggered backwards, and Shiozaki aimed an uppercut at his jaw. Quick to recover, Aizawa parried the hit with his arm. The two of them traded blows for about half a minute, with Aizawa mostly defending against Shiozaki's potent, killer-like strikes. And though his defences were too keen to let anything through, Shiozaki could tell that he was not prepared for this.

After a moment, Aizawa seized both her fists, halting her assault. He started pushing back, slowly overpowering her as he forced her arms aside. Thinking fast, Shiozaki struck him in the face with a vicious headbutt. Her thorns dug into his skin - he grunted out in pain - he blinked! Feeling life flowing through her vines once again, Shiozaki used the narrow window she had to knock Aizawa away with a swing of her vines.

Aizawa crashed to the floor, his lank hair draped over his face - he wasn't looking at Shiozaki. Seeing this, she quickly sent her vines darting forth to ensnare him. Suddenly, Aizawa grabbed his scarf and coiled it around her vines, binding them together. Shiozaki gasped - an intense pain stabbed her across the back of her skull as Aizawa gave the scarf a pull, reeling her in towards him like a fisherman with his catch. He whirled her around and wrapped his arms tightly around her neck, placing her in a powerful chokehold.

It was only for a few seconds, but Shiozaki quickly felt her consciousness slipping away. She gasped uselessly for breath, the blood draining from her head as she tried feebly to resist him.

From somewhere up above, a loudspeaker rang out, "_Team Tetsutetsu and Kaibara have passed the examination."_

"Oh? It looks like your friends are doing quite well." Aizawa said. "But at this rate you two will be the first ones to fail."

Shiozaki's fingers clawed weakly at his arms.

"Though if it's any consolation, you probably would have won against another teacher, fighting like that-"

A whirl of vines appeared around Aizawa's eyes, not from the head of the girl in his grasp but from somewhere behind him.

"What?"

More vines seized his wrists and wrenched his arms aside. Shiozaki forced herself away from him, clutching her throat and gasping. Aizawa whirled around and the vines released him. Monoma was standing across the alleyway, several odd portions of his blond hair replaced by thick, thorny vines.

"I'm terribly sorry for leaving you in the lurch back there, Shiozaki, but I must thank you for touching my hand when I was tied up earlier." he crawled, gazing haughtily at Aizawa. "Though I must say, it took me longer than I expected to free myself from that dastardly weapon."

A hand swung towards Aizawa's head from behind. He spun back around and seized Shiozaki's arm, freezing her vines with a glare of his eyes.

"Monoma! Do something!" she yelled. "They say he can only erase one Quirk at a time!"

"Understood!"

Monoma sprang towards Aizawa with his hand stretched wide, touching his fingertips to the back of his head.

"Yes!"

At once, Monoma's eyes shone red and his hair flew up. Aizawa's hair fell to his shoulders as the red glow disappeared from his eyes. Determined to cut off all means of escape, Shiozaki immediately trapped him in a tight cocoon of vines, leaving nothing but his wrists free.

"Excellent, now all that's left is to cuff him!" Monoma said with a satisfied grin as he reached for the set of golden handcuffs fastened to his belt. "Would you like to do the honours?"

"I don't mind."

Monoma tossed the handcuffs across the lane at Shiozaki. She caught it in both hands and approached Aizawa carefully, making sure to keep her vines tightly coiled around him.

"Just make it quick, my eyes are getting dry. You know, this means we'll have passed this test in just under five minutes!" Monoma said boastfully, glancing over at Shiozaki. "Perhaps when this is over we can go over to 1-A and rub it in their fa-"

"Monoma! Don't look at me!" Shiozaki yelled out in alarm, the grip of her vines rapidly weakening.

"Ah, right-"

But Aizawa had already broken free from her hold. He shoved Shiozaki onto the floor with a swift movement of his arm, then leapt straight towards Monoma, sinking his knee into his stomach.

A comically surprised look appeared on Monoma's face as the strike connected, and he let out an odd gargle of pain as he was sent flying backwards into a pile of wooden crates. He crashed through the crates with a loud shattering noise and sank to the floor, slumped over unconscious.

"Well, I was about to free myself anyway, but thank you for speeding up the process." Aizawa said coldly, brandishing the long combat knife that he had somehow transported into his hand. He turned back to face Shiozaki, who was staggering back to her feet.

"Now, where were we?" he said, replacing the knife in his utility belt.

Shiozaki stared at him silently, but her mind was racing. Monoma had just said something that caught her attention - he said his eyes were feeling dry...

She dashed down the side of the alleyway, trying to circle around to Aizawa's back. He whirled around in response, his glowing eyes fixed firmly on her. He pounced. Shiozaki leapt back, dancing out of range of his scarf while weaving in several attacks that she deliberately put no weight into. Her eyes tracked Aizawa's every move as Bakugo had done with her a dozen times before, ensuring that not a single strike could catch her by surprise.

After a while, she thought she could see Aizawa starting to squint behind his goggles. But she remained calm, not rushing in until she was sure it was safe. She dodged a rapid spinning kick from Aizawa, and she glanced back up to see the glow in his eyes dimming...

Aizawa's eyes snapped shut.

In an instant, the breath of life rushed through Shiozaki's vines again, and she immediately sent every last tendril swirling around Aizawa, binding him twice more tightly than before. She saw him reaching for his knife, and she secured his hands to his front, robbing him of all movement before springing forth and slamming the handcuffs down on his wrists.

A terrific feeling of victory surged through her as the cuffs clicked shut, her heart pounding fit to burst, the declaration of her team's victory blaring from the loudspeakers above no different to her ears than the cheers of the stadium during the sports festival. She passed - she almost didn't dare to believe it...

"Well, colour me surprised." Aizawa muttered from within his thorny prison.

"Oh! I-I'm terribly sorry, sir!" Shiozaki said in a fluster, hurriedly rushing over to free him. "I knew I only had a second to act, so I thought it'd be safer to go over the top-"

"No, that was the most rational move. Excellent work." he said. "I'm more impressed that you managed to deduce I had a time limit on Erasure."

A blush spread across Shiozaki's face as she smiled lightly.

"Well, I really have Monoma's big mouth to thank for that. If he hadn't given me that hint, I wouldn't have won..."

Her blush deepened and she glanced off to the side.

"And I have someone else to thank, too."

Aizawa's eyebrows raised up curiously, but he didn't inquire further.

* * *

After the last team from Shiozaki's class returned to the school grounds, Vlad King dismissed them for the day. As they began filing out of the courtyard in droves, Monoma sauntered up to Shiozaki from behind, his fingertips pressed delicately together, his nose in the air and his arrogant smile back on his face.

"Well, all things considered, that went rather smoothly, don't you think?" he asked. "We're definite shoe-ins for the summer camp now!"

"I'm not too sure about that." Shiozaki said, looking at him darkly. "I just had a talk with Mr Vlad King about our prospects while you were unconscious. He said he's quite upset that you abandoned me at the start of the match-" her eyes flashed accusingly. "-even if it was to stage a surprise attack. He's also livid that you erased my Quirk just when we were about to capture Mr Aizawa - something about forgetting what you were meant to be doing at the time. I'd be worried if I were you."

"Once again, your words are a complete enigma!" Monoma laughed. "There is _no way_ I could have failed!"

* * *

After Class 1-B had left, Class 1-A was called forth to start their examination. Likewise, they were split into pairs and then driven off to their respective testing sites.

"Kacchan, wait..."

Ignoring the meek voice calling out for him, Bakugo doubled his pace. He marched down the empty road with hate brimming in his eyes, his fists clenched so tightly that they hurt. He still couldn't believe what he had been tasked with doing. He still wanted to believe it was some sort of sick joke...

"Kacchan, I really don't think it's a good idea to rush him head-first-"

"Why the hell shouldn't I?!" he roared, his violent voice piercing the silent cityscape. "I'll just toy with him until he's tired and then kick his ass!"

He sped off ahead again, his hands quaking and blood pounding in his head. If he wasn't feeling so tense about having to fight All Might, he would have already turned and punched Midoriya in the face...

Midoriya's footsteps quickened behind him.

"Kacchan, will you please just listen for a second?! There's no way you can beat All Might-"

It was like something snapped inside him. All rational thought was obliterated from Bakugo's mind as quickly as a snowflake in magma. _No way he could beat him...?_

Whirling around, Bakugo swung his fist viciously at Midoriya's face.

But at the last second he froze, his fist quivering less than an inch away from Midoriya's pale visage.

For a second neither of them spoke. Then, Midoriya said timidly, "K-Kacchan?"

Bakugo didn't answer. He stared past Midoriya's eyes into a void of anger and confusion. What the hell was he doing? There was no way he actually felt sorry for that damn nerd, right? Did he really take his promise to that crazy girl that seriously?

He slowly lowered his fist. His expression was unreadable as he glared down at the road, his eyes narrow as slits.

"Kacchan?"

No answer.

"Kacchan, wha-"

_"Aaaaaaaaaargh!"_

Alarmed, Midoriya took a step back - but Bakugo seized him by the collar of his costume and pulled him towards him. He glared furiously down at Midoriya, his eyes filled with crimson fire.

"Listen up, you little shit!" Bakugo yelled, shaking his former friend roughly. "The only reason I haven't beaten you up yet is because I promised someone I'd stop being a fucking dick to you! I still think everything you've said in the past five minutes is worth shit in a sewer!"

He paused for a moment to draw breath.

"But fine! I'll listen to your worthless plan! Though first, get this in your fucking head - there's no way we can just run from someone as goddamn fast as All Might! So whatever you're thinking of-"

A deafening bang cut him off mid-sentence. Glass shards and rubble pelted Bakugo and Midoriya across every inch of their skin as they were blown away by the shockwave, and as the dust cleared, they saw a huge, hulking figure stomping through the destruction towards them.

Bakugo spat the dirt from his mouth and leapt to his feet.

"Oi nerd, you alive?!"

Midoriya clambered up hastily behind him. "Y-yeah...!"

"Good, then tell me your stupid plan already!"

* * *

Three days later, Bakugo's class received the results of their examination. While not everyone had passed the practical, Bakugo's track record remained pristine, and Aizawa's announcement that everyone would be attending the summer camp was met with cheers of elation. No sooner had he left the classroom than Toru Hagakure proposed that everyone should go and shop for what they needed as a class.

"Hey, that sounds like fun!" Kirishima said eagerly. "Bakugo, you're coming too, right?"

"I've got better things to do." he snapped. "Goodbye!"

Without another word, he swung his bag over his shoulder and left the classroom. He went downstairs into a mostly empty corridor and headed towards the gates. Nothing much happened to bother him until-

"Hey, Bakugo!"

He looked over his shoulder. Shiozaki was rushing over to him with a joyful smile and a spring in her step, her hands tilted up gracefully on either side of her.

"Oh, it's you."

He stepped aside and let her walk beside him.

"I take it you passed everything?" he asked, taking in her cheerful demeanour.

"All thanks to you." she said brightly. "Seriously, I only managed to take down your teacher because of everything you taught me. I can't thank you enough-"

"Stop. I'm not going to take credit for your efforts." Bakugo said firmly. "If you passed, then great. Good job, I'm proud of you, what else do you want to hear?"

She blushed. "What about you? How were your grades?"

"Top scores, third in the class." he said like it was no big deal. "Guess I'll see you at the training camp, then."

"I hope so, I'm going to have to buy some of the things on the equipment list first. Knowing you, you probably have all of that already."

"I've got most of it, I still need to buy a handful."

"I see - you'll be going with your friends, I suppose?"

"Nah, busy." he said evasively, not looking at her.

"I understand." Shiozaki said with a nod. "My class wanted to go on Saturday, but I promised I'd help Sai with the car, so I told them to go on without me - I'm perfectly fine with that, of course, but it _does_ feel lonely going shopping by yourself..."

She fell silent for a moment.

"Hey, when _are_ you going, anyway?"

"This Sunday, why?"

Bakugo glanced over at Shiozaki. She was eyeing him intently with an eager smile.

"No."

"Please?"

"No."

"I'll make it up to you."

"No, damn it, no - just no - stop giving me that face, Angel, _I said no_-"

* * *

On Sunday, Bakugo was filing notes at his desk when the alarm on his phone went off. He picked it up and read the alert:

_"Meet Vines Mall, 15:00."_

He raised a hand to his head, groaning.

"How the hell does she keep doing this to me?"

* * *

**Hello Future Me on YouTube was a huge help in making this chapter turn out the way I wanted. If anyone wants advice on writing fight scenes, do look up his video on the subject - he knows what he's doing.**

**As usual, thanks for reading, I love y'all. 3**


	12. Another Song About the Weekend

_"...And I swear, that my tears are now a thing of the past. For your sake, I would gladly give you all I have..."_

Bakugo stood waiting in between a men's fashion boutique and a hair salon, his back against the pale yellow wall of the shopping complex. As the newest overrated pop song blasted from the speakers overhead, he distracted himself with watching the noisy crowds flocking in and out of shops, stopping only to scowl at the occasional kid who liked to stare a bit too much, and to glance over at the front entrance of the mall every few minutes.

It wasn't long until he spotted the familiar mane of green hair entering through the glass doors. Shiozaki had deviated from her usual plain, unassuming look in favour of a cute blue dress over a zebra-striped shirt, and a bright red leaf-shaped hairpin which tucked her vines behind her right ear.

Bakugo found himself staring at her outfit for far longer than necessary. He quickly looked away and started watching a group of college students laughing together near the fountain.

Shiozaki stopped and looked around, and when she saw Bakugo her face lit up. She ran across the lobby to reach him, half-skipping across the brightly polished floor.

"Hi," she chirped. "I hope you didn't wait long?"

"Wasn't checking," Bakugo said, hoping his face wasn't visibly red. "Can we get going now?"

"Sure, lead the way."

Bakugo got up from the wall and turned left down the hallway. Shiozaki followed closely behind him, trying not to lose sight of him as they weaved through the dense crowd.

"Where are we headed?" she asked after a minute, noticing that Bakugo had been quite tight-lipped since they had started walking.

He shot her a glance over his shoulder. "Are you just going to follow me the whole day?"

"Probably."

He rolled his eyes. "I'm going to the sports store first, I need a new shirt. Then I'm getting one of those military water flasks and some other crap from the surplus store upstairs."

"Excellent, I need some new clothes too, specifically a good cap for the fifth day - and Kendo asked me to get her some equipment from the place upstairs too..."

"Speaking of clothes, why'd you come here all dolled up like that?" Bakugo asked, scanning her outfit up and down.

"Er...why, you don't like it?" Shiozaki asked, the smile falling from her face.

"I never said that."

"Oh, um..." Shiozaki found it hard to keep her eyes on him. "...I was in a good mood today?"

* * *

They reached the sportswear store at the end of the hallway, the synthetic scent of rubber and fabric strong in the air as they stepped inside. As they entered, Bakugo headed straight for the rack of running shirts, while Shiozaki went over to the other side of the shop to browse their collection of caps.

She spent a few minutes comparing designs until she had narrowed her choices down to two. One cap was plain white with a logo of a golden winged heart stitched above its brim. The other cap was sky blue with a chrome metal diamond attached to its side. They both looked pretty - she was hard-pressed to decide which one she liked better...

She grabbed both of them and went over to where Bakugo was standing. She tapped him on the shoulder, and when he turned around she lifted up the caps.

"Bakugo, which of these should I get?"

His eyes narrowed critically. "Why ask me? Buy whatever you want, I'm not here to police your fashion taste."

"I like them both, but I only want one, so I need your input."

Bakugo's mouth twitched. "You're asking the wrong guy. I know nothing about fashion."

"Doesn't matter," she said with a smile, though she frankly thought he had a point, since he was wearing his red grenade shirt at a rather high-end shopping mall. "I trust your taste."

Bakugo rolled his eyes. "Fine, give them here."

Shiozaki handed him the two caps. The second they reached Bakugo's hands, a frown passed over his face.

"The hell are these made of?" he asked, knocking the two caps together to produce a loud, dull thud. "They're hard as rocks."

"Reinforced fabric, specially made for people with mutations that affect the head area," she explained. "They have metal fibers woven inside to make them less susceptible to breakage, which can be removed to cut holes for things like horns."

"Don't these get uncomfortable?"

"Yes, _and_ they're quite expensive," Shiozaki said cheerlessly. "But it's an inconvenience I have to live with."

Bakugo looked at the pair of caps for a moment.

"You know what? Don't bother with these," he said, swiftly tossing the caps over his shoulder into a basket labelled 'unwanted items'. "Since you'll be wearing the cap the whole day, you shouldn't get something uncomfortable."

"Oh, but the guide said-"

"The guide said we should have a cap for the fifth day because we'll be trekking somewhere sunny. If that's the issue, you can still wear shades. You got any at home?"

"No..."

"There's a truckload back here, come and take your pick."

Bakugo turned away, and Shiozaki followed him two aisles over to a shelf stocked full with uniquely designed sunglasses. A small mirror stood on one side of the shelf.

Bakugo gave the display a fleeting glance before grabbing a pair of pink sunglasses near the top and tossing them over to Shiozaki. Startled, she caught them a little clumsily in both hands.

"Here," he said. "You girls like this kind of look, right?"

Shiozaki turned the shades over in her hand, inspecting their shiny surface and curiously circular frame. She supposed the design was meant to look cute. If that was the case, it didn't really work for her. It looked more like something Setsuna Tokage would wear.

"Don't like it?" Bakugo said, seeing her indifferent reaction.

"No," she replied, walking over to replace the sunglasses on the shelf. "They're not really 'me'."

Bakugo snorted. "The hell does that mean? Either it looks good or it doesn't - whatever, what about this one? Looks pretty badass."

He grabbed another pair of sunglasses and passed them to her. She considered them closely. This pair was midnight black and more square than the other two. On each of its hinges was a large white spider with bony legs and a lightning bolt going down its back.

Shiozaki put on the shades and looked at the mirror. Her reflection gazed back at her with a strangely hostile aura. She couldn't help but let out a small laugh - the rough, rebellious look was absolutely the furthest thing from her usual style - but then again, she didn't seem to mind that look so much these days.

"Alright. I'll take these," she said as she took off the glasses. Eager to repay Bakugo for his assistance, she asked, "Need help finding a shirt?"

"I've already found one I like, I'm just going to check the size."

* * *

Shiozaki waited for Bakugo at a seat near the changing rooms, pointlessly texting Reiko Yanagi to kill the time. Just as she was about to check how long he had been gone, one of the changing room doors burst open loudly.

"Oi, Vines."

She looked up. Bakugo was standing next to her, wearing a dark maroon shirt with a logo of a dozen white bones arranged into the shape of a medal.

"Does this look a little tight to you?" he asked with a frown. "The size is definitely mine, but - why are you laughing?"

Shiozaki's gaze was flying up and down his figure, her entire body quaking with silent laughter and her hands clutched tightly over her mouth, failing to hide her massive grin.

"B-Bakugo..." she choked. "...are you...wearing a ladies' shirt?"

"Huh?"

Bakugo looked down, and with a jolt of dread, noticed the oddly low and narrow collar of his shirt. His face started to burn a brilliant red as Shiozaki's snickering grew louder.

"This...I...you...fuck!" he spluttered. Seizing his collar, he glared at Shiozaki and yelled, "Guys' shirts have v-necks too, you know!"

Shiozaki gasped through her laughter, "Wh-what's the brand...?!"

Bakugo roughly unfurled the tag near the bottom of the shirt.

_"Gentle Athena,"_ he read out loud. "God damn it."

"I'm...I'm sorry...for this..."

Shiozaki raised up her cell phone and pointed it at Bakugo. The snap of a shutter was heard.

"Oi!"

He instinctively gripped his fist and took a step forward, but he satisfied himself with glaring down at Shiozaki until he no longer felt like breaking her neck.

"Don't you fucking dare send that to anyone," he snapped, before turning tail and scuttling back into the changing room.

* * *

Bakugo didn't speak a word to Shiozaki after they left the store. Even when they had gotten the rest of their items from the surplus shop upstairs, he was still resolutely answering her with no more than one-word sentences.

"I think I've got everything. You?"

"Mm."

"We're not coming back here again, maybe you should check-"

"No."

He turned his irritated face out of her sight.

Shiozaki stared at him wordlessly for a moment. She then gave a resigned sigh, and hit him lightly on his shoulder with a vine.

"Alright, I'm sorry," she conceded. "Would you feel better if I bought you a drink? There's a cafe downstairs that's really popluar."

Bakugo immediately looked back at her with his full attention.

"You're serious?"

Shiozaki raised a hand solemnly. "I am willing to do whatever it takes to atone for my earlier sin."

"Good, because I've got a better idea," he said as he grinned evilly. He turned to face her and jabbed his pointer finger at her neck. "You're going to buy a drink of my choice, and _you're_ going to drink it."

"Oh, is that all?" Shiozaki said with relief. "In that case, I accept - how bad can it be?"

* * *

Shiozaki sat waiting at a table in a corner of the cafe for a few minutes. Then, she saw Bakugo walking over with two drinks in his hand, wearing a sinister leer on his face.

He took his seat opposite Shiozaki, and slammed down one of the drinks in front of her. She peered down curiously at the contents of the glass. The liquid was reddish-purple, topped with ice cubes and a single slice of lemon.

"You know what this thing's named on the menu?" Bakugo said, as he leaned back and raised his cup of coffee to his lips delicately.

"Do tell."

_"Devilsnake's Acid,"_ he said, his grin widening. "Bottoms up."

Shiozaki suddenly felt nervous. That name was setting off all sorts of warning signals in her head - or was Bakugo just trying to mess with her...?

She reached out for the glass slowly, her fingers instinctively curling up as she got close.

Oh, better to get it over with.

She boldly grabbed the drink and took a massive gulp. At that moment, she saw Bakugo lean forth with an exhilarated smile on his face, and she immediately knew she had made a mistake.

Everything was burning - the roof of her mouth, her tongue, her throat...unable to speak for having that unholy concoction in her mouth, she let out a muffled "Mmmph!" and lurched forwards uncontrollably, slamming her arm onto the table to support herself.

Holding her breath, she forced herself to slowly gulp down the ridiculously sour drink. Once the last drop had been washed down, she sat upright and started gasping for breath. She looked across the table and saw Bakugo holding his coffee to his mouth and snickering like mad.

Well...she deserved this.

Pushing the drink away from her, she groaned, "Bakugo...what on earth...was that...?"

"Grapefruit, pineapple, lemon, and just a _tiny-ass_ drop of kiwi," he said in a satisfied tone.

"You're evil."

"Be thankful I didn't get the _Desert's Whisper_. It's not sour but it's supposed to taste fucking rancid. That said, I wanted to get it, but it's an alcoholic drink and the guy at the counter asked me for ID so I scrammed."

Shiozaki shook her head. "I think I would rather have drank that. This purple stuff is a nightmare - not that I approve of underage drinking, but it'd be nowhere near as bad."

Bakugo raised an eyebrow as he sipped his coffee. "How would you know?"

Shiozaki nearly jumped up in her seat. "What? I - ahh..."

She stared around wildly as though looking for an escape route. With nowhere to go, she glanced back at Bakugo, and she resigned herself to her fate.

"I, er..."

Fixing her gaze on her drink, she started fidgeting with her straw.

"...I've drank alcohol before."

This time, it was Bakugo's turn to choke.

"_Kaff_ \- what? _Kaff - gack_ \- huh? Wait, are you fucking serious?"

"I - I was curious, okay?" Shiozaki groaned, pressing a hand to her very red face. "Sai was having a party with his university friends at our place, and I saw that they had some wine out in the living room..."

She visibly winced at the memory.

"...I suddenly wanted to try it, so I went into the kitchen and waited for them to go outside to clear the trash...then I ran out with a little plastic cup and poured myself some of it."

Bakugo slammed his fist down violently, doubled over in laughter.

"_Gahahah_ \- seriously?! I - _hah_ \- I mean...this shit really isn't funny, but _you_?! _Gahaaah-_"

She was hiding her face with both hands now. "I was in fourth grade, okay? I didn't know better."

"_Fourth grade?!"_

Bakugo continued to laugh until he started coughing. He hit his chest loudly and cleared his throat.

Looking up with a tear in his eye, he said, "Well? What's it like?"

"Excuse me?"

"Wine. Because unlike the little bandit I'm talking to right now, I haven't had anything with alcohol yet."

"Um...it tasted sweet? And sour?" Shiozaki said lamely.

Bakugo gave her a questioning look.

"Okay, look - trying to be sneaky about it really distracted me from enjoying the actual taste - which is why I kind of regret doing it now. They say your first taste is supposed to be magical, so perhaps I should have saved it till I was older..."

"Are we still talking about alcohol?"

"What?"

"Nothing. Got anything else you need to buy?"

"Nope."

"Good. Let's go," Bakugo said as he got up from his seat. "Just give me a moment - bathroom."

* * *

After Bakugo left the restrooms, he headed back to the main hallway where he had left Shiozaki with all of their shopping bags - but when he stepped into the corridor, he found that she had vanished without a trace.

Just as he was about to curse her for running off with all their items, she emerged from somewhere to the left of the hallway, bags in tow as she hurried over to him.

"Sorry, sorry!" she said breathlessly as she handed him his bags. "You were taking a really long time, so I went somewhere else..."

"There was a queue," he said as he reached for his bags. "Where the hell did you go?"

As he took the bags, he looked down and saw three small plushie keychains held in her fist which he had not seen on her person earlier that day. Each keychain was modelled after a different pro hero - Best Jeanist, Kamui Woods, and Hawks.

"Seriously? Where did you even get-?"

He answered his own question as he looked over at the area Shiozaki had run out from. The lights of a dozen claw machines were flashing in the distance.

"You know those things are rigged, right?"

She shrugged. "I guess I got lucky. Anyway, shall we get going?"

* * *

They left the mall and headed down to the train station. Under the orange glow of the sunset, the whole place felt remarkably warm and peaceful. Bakugo stood leaning against a pillar with his arms folded over his chest, staring out over the tracks, while Shiozaki rested on a bench next to him, looking down at her new keychains and absent-mindedly flicking their stubby little arms.

"Do you think it's going to be tough?" she asked.

Bakugo glanced at her. "Huh?"

"The training camp. I mean - I'm not expecting it to be a breeze, but we weren't even told what we signed up for - and one week _is_ a pretty long time..."

"You can't seriously be having second thoughts now - whatever, it's nothing we can't handle, right?"

Shiozaki nodded. "I suppose so. And I guess it's necessary too - if we want to grow as heroes."

"Damn right." Bakugo went back to staring at the tracks and muttered, "I'm going to break all my records there and leave that nerd and Half-and-Half and in the dust...got to do that to reach the top..."

He seemed to be talking to himself more than anyone now. Shiozaki let out a slight laugh and went back to fiddling with her keychains. But her smile vanished as quickly as it had come - there was one aspect of Bakugo's words that cut open an old wound within her.

The reason she joined the hero course...when was the last time she spoke about it to anyone...?

The low rumbling of an approaching train pulled her out of her thoughts. She looked up and saw the train speeding into the station in a white blur before it came to a gradual stop. Bakugo picked up his bags from the floor beside him and started walking to the nearest door.

"Bye," he said curtly.

"Hey - wait."

Shiozaki suddenly stood up and ran over to him. Before he could say anything, she grabbed his hand and placed one of her keychains in his grasp.

Bakugo stared down at the tiny figure for a moment. Then, he glanced up and gave Shiozaki a critical look.

"What's this about?"

"You've done a lot for me over the past few months - I want to start paying you back. Even if it starts off as simple as this, I do intend to return all of my favours eventually."

Bakugo didn't say anything. He merely lowered his gaze to the keychain again with a slightly furrowed brow. Shiozaki stared at him puzzledly, unsure as to what thoughts or emotions his reaction was indicating.

Then, she felt a slight punch to the guy when she saw that she had given him the Best Jeanist keychain.

"O-oh, right - you don't like him..." she said abashedly. "I've got two more, so - which one do you pref-?"

"I'll take it."

Bakugo took the keychain and placed it carefully into one of his bags. Without another glance at Shiozaki, he turned away and started walking towards the train.

Behind him, a radiant smile formed on Shiozaki's lips.

"See you at the summer camp," she called out.

"Can't wait."

"What was that?"

"I said goodbye, damn it!"

* * *

**I hope you enjoyed their little 'date', because I want to try my hand at some heavier stuff soon. Also, four more musical references in this chapter, I wonder if anyone spotted them. Hint: they're all in the clothing designs again. **

**Lastly, sorry for the long wait. I would've gotten this chapter out earlier, but I was busy with real life (yawn) for a long while, and even ignoring that I haven't been writing much, because Genshin Impact is **_**too damn funnnnn!**_ **I love this accursed time-sink so much. Exploration and combat never gets boring and the characters are precious. Noelle, Fischl, Xiao and Qiqi are my favourites so far. Baizhu and Ganyu are close seconds. (Fifths?)**

**Anyway loves, thanks for reading and stay safe. Now if you'll excuse me, I'm going to bludgeon some monsters with my adorable white-haired claymore maid.**

* * *

**Musical references:**

**Golden winged heart: Bon Jovi - Greatest Hits.**

**Metal diamond on a sky blue background: Set It Off - Duality.**

**Spider with a lightning bolt: My Chemical Romance - Danger Days.**

**Medal of bones: Twisted Sister.**


End file.
